


DEFECTIVE

by Deb_ii_o3o



Category: Invader Zim
Genre: F/M, Invasion, Romance, Sci-Fi, ZAGR - Freeform, alien - Freeform, datr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2020-06-24 06:12:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 23,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19717840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deb_ii_o3o/pseuds/Deb_ii_o3o
Summary: The signs were obvious, but it was still a huge shock for him when the truth came to the surface: he was defective. In Irk that only meant three things: replacing his PAK, banishment or death. Between betrayals and new discoveries, will Zim be able to survive the war of the planets? (ZaGr/DaTr).





	1. Suspect Transmission

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer: I do not own Invader Zim or its characters. Also, I don't speak English 100% fluently, so bear with me. I'll try to work and fix any mistakes I make in this story.**
> 
> **On another side note, this story is based off of the show. I didn't get the chance to read the comic, yet.**
> 
> **Also, in case you're wondering, here're the characters' ages where the story takes place:**
> 
> **Tak: 174 Earth years old/1740 Irken years old**
> 
> **Zim: 154 Earth years old/1540 Irken years old**
> 
> **Dib: 16 years old**
> 
> **Gaz: 15 years old**

Zim paced back and forth in his base's lab. It has already been two years since he was sent there, and he was the only Invader who didn't get around to destroying his designated planet. A failure to the empire! Just then, he stopped on his tracks, an idea lighting up in his mind. Zim wasn't to plead (especially _beg_ ), but if that's what it takes for the Tallests to give him a second chance, so be it. Zim ran up to his computer proceeding to make a call, but his actions were interrupted by a laser shot hitting him on the back. Zim fell forward landing on his keyboard as vapor steamed from his body. Few seconds later, he heard someone shouting in victory behind him.

"Ha! Take that, Zim!" Zim heard his arch enemy's voice. _Dib._

"What's the matter with you, Dib-head?!" Zim shouted back, spinning on his heel to face his enemy. "Breaking into my lair like this! How did you even get passed my security system without triggering it off?!"

"I have my methods." Dib bragged. "But I should spare you the explanations since you'll be on a dissection table soon enough." Dib pointed the laser gun back at Zim.

"GIR! Defensive mode!" Zim shouted at GIR who was hanging on the tubes and pipes of the ceiling. As soon as he heard the command, GIR's eyes glowed red. He fell to the floor landing back first, but didn't move again.

"Pathetic." Dib mocked raising the gun once again.

Zim trembled and started sweating before running away, dodging every shot Dib fired at him. Producing a laser gun of his own from his PAK, Zim started shooting back. They began a laser battle in Zim's lab before Dib spoke up again.

"You're so pathetic, Zim! No wonder you still didn't get to destroy my planet!" Dib mocked.

"Shut up, human worm-beast! You'll see what's coming for you once I call the Tallests here and end your race!" Zim retorted.

"Ha! Your superiors are just as dumb as you are, Zim! I'm surprised you got to survive this far in your planet!" Dib mocked as they stopped the laser shots to face each other, never lowering their guards. "But you can bring it on! I'll be ready! _We'll_ be ready! You won't know what's coming for you when the humans destroy your so called _'superior'_ race!"

"Be quiet, smelly monkey-head! You don't know what you're talking about!" Zim shouted in anger.

"Oh yeah?" Dib retorted raising his gun. "We'll see about that when your leaders _fall,_ Zim!"

Dib charged the laser gun ready to take a shot, but Zim was faster. Shooting Dib's hands, Zim managed to make him drop his gun.

"Aw, man." Was all Dib could manage to say before Zim tackled him down, pinning him to the floor. "Let me go!" Dib shouted struggling to free himself. "Zim! This isn't ov-!" Dib cut himself mid-sentence as Zim produced metal tentacles out of his PAK, wrapping them around Dib.

Zim escorted Dib upstairs where he threw his enemy out the door, slamming it shut as Dib protested.

"This isn't over, Zim!" Dib shouted as the lawn gnomes dragged him to the limits of Zim's lair. "I'll come for you! I won't eat, I won't sleep until you're defeated! Oof!" Dib exclaimed as the lawn gnomes threw him on the sidewalk. "I'll destroy you, Zim…!" Dib said as he stood up. "Just wait…!" With that, Dib was finally gone, running back home. Meanwhile, Zim was back at his lab.

"That pitiful, puny human!" Zim exclaimed as he got back to the computer room. "He actually thinks that he could destroy _me?!_ The almighty Zim?! Pathetic!" Zim spat as he shook his fist. "Anyway, where was I, again?" Zim placed a hand on his chin pondering, unable to remember what he was doing as he searched back in his memory. "Meh, it couldn't be important if I don't remember." Zim shrugged, looking around at his destroyed lab. "This place is a mess! GIR!" GIR soot up on the floor where he still laid unconscious. His eyes glowed red at the mention of his name.

"Yes, sir!" GIR saluted his master.

"Clean up this mess, now!" Zim demanded.

"I don't wanna!" GIR's eyes got back to their cyan color and he stood up before leaving for a few seconds, returning with a broom. "Okay!" GIR saluted before his eyes glowed red and he went to clean up the mess Dib left behind in Zim's lab.

"What a day…" Zim sighed exasperatedly as he slumped in his chair. "I wish I could remember what I was doing before the Dib invaded my lab… Meh, it'll come back to me eventually." Zim rested in his chair not knowing the imminent danger that was about to strike.

Meanwhile, six Earth months from there, the Irken mother ship floated in the confinements of space as the Tallests were called by an Irken soldier.

"My Tallests! We have an urgent transmission from Earth!" The soldier spoke nervously as the Tallests eyed him confused.

"Earth?" Tallest purple said before they both spoke in unison. "Zim…"

"Just shut him off! He's not important!" Tallest red said. "Mission Impending Doom Two is already over, and he didn't even get to destroy that stupid planet we sent him to!" With that, the Tallests fell into laughter, but it didn't last long for the soldier cut them off.

"But, my Tallests! We got something quite strange from his transmission!" The Irken soldier said.

"It's Zim! What's normal about him?" Tallest purple complained.

"Either way, I think you'll like to listen to it, my Tallests…" The soldier said uneasy.

"Fine." The Tallests sighed in unison.

The Irken soldier lead the way to the control room, where the Tallests made themselves comfortable in their usual seats before waving a command for the pilots to play the so spoken transmission. They obeyed and the Tallests heard Zim's voice enacting from the transmission, as well as another annoying voice they didn't recognize.

"Ha! Take that Zim!" The annoying voice could be heard on the transmission.

"What's the matter with you, Dib-head?!" Zim shouted back at the voice. "Breaking into my lair like this! How did you even get passed my security system without triggering it off?!"

"I have my methods." The so-called Dib-head responded. "But I should spare you the explanations since you'll be on a dissection table soon enough."

"What's up with this 'Dib-head' Zim is talking to?" Tallest red asked raising a brow.

"Yeah. His voice is really annoying." Tallest purple pointed out.

"Please my Tallests, just listen to the transmission." An Irken pilot retorted and the Tallests went silent.

"GIR! Defensive mode!" They heard Zim shouting before a metallic clank and a short moment of silence followed his command.

"Pathetic." Dib-head mocked.

Innumerous laser gun shots could be heard on the transmission after another moment of silence. The Tallests were on the edge of their seats as they realized what was going on.

"They're firing lasers at each other?!" Tallest red exclaimed.

"Did he kill Zim?!" Tallest purple asked the pilots.

"Please listen, my Tallests." An Irken pilot said as the Tallests started rooting for Dib-head.

"You're so pathetic, Zim! No wonder you still didn't get to destroy my planet!" Dib-head mocked.

"Shut up, human worm-beast! You'll see what's coming for you once I call the Tallests here and end your race!" Zim retorted.

The Tallests laughed at that statement.

"Ha! Your superiors are just as dumb as you are, Zim! I'm surprised you got to survive this far in your planet!" Dib-head mocked as the laser shots ceased. The Tallests complained at his insult. "But you can bring it on! I'll be ready! _We'll_ be ready! You won't know what's coming for you when the humans destroy your so called _'superior'_ race!"

"Be quiet, smelly monkey-head! You don't know what you're talking about!" Zim shouted in anger.

"Oh yeah?" Dib-head retorted. "We'll see about that when your leaders _fall_ , Zim!"

A short moment of silence followed by a laser shot could be heard through the transmission.

"Did he kill Zim?!" Tallest purple exclaimed.

"Aw, man." Was all they heard Dib-head saying before the transmission ended.

"He didn't kill Zim, did he?" Tallest red asked unamused.

"It all indicates that Zim is still alive, my Tallests." An Irken pilot said as the Tallests threw their heads back going "Uuuuuuugh!" "But, my Tallests." The Irken pilot continued. "You're not seeing the point, here."

"Yes, we are." Tallest purple said morbidly. "That Dib-head guy dared to call us dumb and mock the Irken race!" Tallest purple exclaimed in anger.

"We shall attack planet Earth for belittling us and our race!" Tallest red exclaimed.

"And for threatening us." The Irken pilot retorted.

"Yeah, that too." Tallest red said before exclaiming… "Get ready for the invasion!"

And so, the Irkens immediately started their preparations for invading planet Earth, ready to start a battle of planets.


	2. Earth Invasion

As days passed, Zim tried calling the Tallests again innumerous times but they never answered. Six months passed, and Zim was growing more worried and inpatient by the moment. Zim sat alone at a table of the Hi Skool's cafeteria poking at his food. He wasn't feeling that great for quite a while now, but today he was particularly uneasy. A few tables away, someone noticed Zim buried in thought.

"Look at him, Gaz!" Dib turned to his sister who sat by his side. "Just plotting his next evil plan. I just know it!" Gaz only waved at Dib, signalizing that she was busy with her game and wanted silence, but Dib continued. "The Swollen Eyeball members said they were working on something behind the covers. When it's ready, oh I bet it'll be sweet! They didn't tell me what it was, because they wanted to make me a surprise, but…" Dib stopped mid-sentence as he turned his attention to the empty seat by his side, as Gaz walked away from the table. "Yeah, thanks, Gaz. I know I can always count on you." Dib rolled his eyes as the earth suddenly started to rumble.

The lights of the skool flickered, the sky went dark. All of the students ran under the tables of the cafeteria to protect themselves as screams could be heard out on the streets of the city. Zim himself only stayed in his place unmoving. Those were the signs of… No, it couldn't be. Zim ran out the doors of the cafeteria heading directly to the skool's front doors, but didn't go unnoticed. Dib ran after him. As the boys reached the double doors of the entrance of the building, Irken soldiers with laser guns burst in, followed by the Tallests themselves.

"Ha! Yes!" Dib screamed feeling victorious. Pointing at every student in the hallway, he continued… "Now you see that aliens actually exist?! Who's crazy now?! Huh?! Huh?!"

"Silence!" Tallest purple demanded. "We're here looking for someone. We received a transmission from Earth implying that the humans would attack our home planet, Irk."

"We need to know which one of you, Earthanoids, is Dib-head." Tallest red continued.

"'Dib-head'?" Dib asked confused. "There must have been some kind of miscommunication…" Dib stopped mid-sentence as he saw all the kids in the hallway pointing at him.

"Arrest him!" Tallest red demanded as the Irken soldiers grabbed his arms.

Dib started to struggle and fight to no avail before he spot his sister waving at him with a smile on her lips from a distance.

"Gaz! Listen to me! You have to go get help! Call the Swollen Eyeball members! Remember the phone number I gave you! It is 1-555-555-0199!" Dib kept screaming, but his sister didn't move. "Please, Gaz! Do something!"

"Silence!" Tallest red demanded. "Sweet mother of Irk! Your voice is even more annoying in person!" He then turned to Gaz. "Is that purple headed female affiliated with you?"

"No." Gaz quickly responded.

"She's my sister." Dib retorted.

"What? Dib!" Gaz protested.

"'Sister'? What is that?" Tallest purple asked Tallest red as they shrugged and demanded in unison… "Arrest her!"

Gaz backed off a little as the Irken soldiers approached slowly. She ran to the opposite direction, trying to escape through another exit, but her path was blocked by more Irken soldiers who appeared from the other end of the hall. Seeing herself trapped, Gaz tried to fight. Throwing a few punches, kicks and karate strikes on the soldiers, she was able to jump above their heads and head towards the main exit, but one of the Irken soldiers shot her from behind, making Gaz collapse on the floor as all her strengths evaded from her body and her body steamed from the laser. Two Irken soldiers grabbed her arms and raised her from the floor as they locked her wrists in handcuffs. Gaz growled and kicked one of the soldiers on his squeedly spooch with whatever strength was left in her, making him fall to the floor in pain.

"Whoa, this one's a fighter." The Irken who held her wrists said impressed.

"I suggest you to release me right now before I send you all to a nightmare world of no return." Gaz threatened.

"Whatever. Walk, you puny human." The soldier demanded as he made Gaz walk towards the Tallests as they prepared to exit the building.

"You'll pay for this, Dib." Gaz said to her brother when he was in ears reach.

The Irkens dragged the two teenagers out of the building when they heard maniacal laughter coming from behind. Looking behind them, they saw none other than Zim.

"AH HA HA HA HA HA! That's what you get for messing with the empire, fools!" Zim yelled out.

"Zim? Is that you?" Tallest red asked.

"Yes, my Tallest. It is _I,_ the amazing Zim!" Zim said.

The Tallests exchanged looks before Tallest red spoke… "I almost didn't recognize you."

"Oh! Sorry. It must be my ingenious disguise." Zim then proceeded to remove his poorly-made disguise, exposing his true alien form.

The whole crowd in the hallway gasped as they saw the true Zim.

"You were right, Dib…" Zita spoke. "Zim _is_ an alien!"

"Really?" Dib said sarcastically.

"And you got taller, too." Tallest purple pointed out.

"Ah, yes my Tallest, I have. I made some research on it. It may have something to do with Earth's atmosphere… Or something." Zim replied, smiling at himself.

The Tallests exchanged looks once again before Tallest red waved at the soldiers. "Yeah, arrest him as well."

"What?!" Zim exclaimed and didn't fight as the soldiers grabbed his arms. "But… My Tallests… _Why?_ "

"'Why'?" Tallest red raised an eyebrow, directing himself to Zim. "I'll tell you 'why', Zim. You are a defective and shouldn't even be alive. You should've been deactivated years ago if the Control Brains didn't recognize you as an Invader after killing Tallests Miyuki and Spork, as well as a great amount of our kind."

"Plus, we don't like you." Tallest purple continued. "And, now that you're that tall we might as well continue with the initial plan of destroying you. Who knows what the Control Brains would do if they saw you. You could be the next Tallest." Tallest purple shivered at that thought before they both burst into laughter.

Zim was speechless. He couldn't believe what he just heard. He just bowed his head and fought back a tear as the Irken soldiers dragged the teenagers to the Irken mother ship by the Tallests' command.


	3. Security Breach

The Tallests followed the soldiers who escorted the three teenagers as well as the skool children to The Massive's dungeon. Zim, Dib and Gaz were thrown in a separated, high-security cell before the soldiers took the rest of the skool children to another cell at the back of the room. The Tallests looked down at the three teenagers before them with disdain.

"I hope you enjoy your stay here, for it won't last." Tallest purple spoke up. "Because, when we're done interrogating the two of you, Earthanoids, you'll all be executed."

"Ah, at last we'll get rid of you, Zim." Tallest red said morbidly. "Well, this call for a celebration. Wanna have a snack party at the conference room?" He asked Tallest purple.

"You know I do." Tallest purple replied as they left the room laughing before the soldiers left as well.

When they found the room empty, Gaz stood up immediately glaring at the direction the Tallests had left, then she looked back down at the lock of the cell's door. Producing a Swiss army knife out of her pocket, she began fidgeting with the lock.

"Stop playing with that lock!" Zim shouted at Gaz from his sitting spot. "It's high security Irken technology! There's no way you could possibly open it!"

Standing up, Dib glared down at Zim who sat with his back against the wall as he glanced at the floor of the cell.

"You know, I'm curious to know how the 'Tallests' knew my name. And why did they invade the Earth, huh? And what was the transmission they were talking about? Why did they think the Earth was going to attack Irk?!" Dib bombarded Zim with questions as he just kept silent, staring at the floor. "This is all _your_ fault. Zim!" Zim winced as Dib shouted at him. "You brought them here, and I bet you even faked a transmission to make them attack our planet! But now it backfired on you. You're just as screwed up as we are!"

"Trust me…" Zim finally spoke up. "I didn't do any of that… I didn't know they were coming, I also don't know about this transmission they're talking about… I just wanted to make my leaders proud and destroy this _stupid_ planet all by myself… But I couldn't do even that. When they arrived, I honestly thought that they had given me a second chance by helping me to enslave humanity and destroy their planet afterwards… But I didn't think they'd turn their backs on me like that… I feel so betrayed… Why does everybody hate me?" Zim started trembling and crying as he spoke those last words. Finding some remorse in himself, Dib walked over to Zim, sitting by his side.

"You know, Zim…" Dib sighed. "I… Kinda feel you, there. Nobody in the whole world ever believed the things I said… Not even my own family… They called me 'crazy' but, even when the world turned its back on me, I still wanted to keep it safe… Because this is my home and I don't know where I would go from here."

"Why are you being so nice to me, Dib-monkey?" Zim asked, finally finding his voice.

"I feel like I can trust you." Dib shrugged. "Or, at least, _now_ I feel that way. And you should stop whining, you know? Sit in a corner and cry won't make anything happen."

Zim smiled genuinely.

"I just wanna make the Tallests pay for what they did to me." Zim's expression turned to that of pure rage as he said that.

"Well, it'll be hard while we're in this cage…" Dib retorted.

Zim looked back down with a frown back on his face, then he looked up to Gaz, who was still fidgeting with the lock.

"I thought I told you to stop playing with that!" Zim complained. "You'll never open…!" Zim went silent as a click could be heard from the cell's lock and Gaz opened it.

"You were saying?" Gaz said as the boys eyed each other wide-eyed.

They took the chance before any guards appeared and ran out the cell.

"So, what now?" Gaz asked as they gathered outside the cell.

"We need a plan, but quick. The guards will probably be here any moment." Zim replied.

"I think I have one." Dib said as he ran off to the cell where the skool children were locked in, having Zim and Gaz following him. "Okay, Gaz. Do your magic."

"What? Are you kidding me?" Gaz retorted, not wanting to release those losers of her skool.

"We'll need as many allies as we can gather. Trust me on this one, okay?" Dib replied determined.

Gaz gave her brother a look before she produced her Swiss army knife once more and began fidgeting with the lock.

"Zim, do you have any weapons with you?" Dib directed himself to Zim.

"I have a couple of laser guns in my PAK." Zim nodded. "Why?"

"Give me one." Dib demanded, extending his hand.

Zim thought for a moment before producing two laser guns out of his PAK and handing one to Dib.

"Why didn't you use any of your Irken gadgets to open the cell?" Dib asked as he tried figuring out how the gun worked.

"Because the high security cells in this dungeon have a technology that disables the Irkens' PAKs when they're locked." Zim explained. "We're not morons, you know?"

"Oh…" Was all Dib could manage to let out before he glanced over at the kids in the cell. "Okay, listen up everybody." Dib directed himself to the kids. "After Gaz opens the lock, you will run out of here as me and Zim clear the way. Go directly to Zim's house, we'll lead the way. Do you understand?" The frightened kids inside the cell nodded in reply.

"Wait, why _my_ house?!" Zim protested.

"Because you're the only one with the technology and weapons we'll need to face this." Dib explained. "Plus, your lab is big enough to accommodate everybody for the night."

"They're spending the night. In my house?!" Zim pointed at the kids inside the cell, who frowned at him.

"Stop complaining, Zim! You're the only chance we have!" Dib shouted making Zim freeze on the spot.

"Fine." Zim spat.

Loud chatter and footsteps could be heard approaching the dungeon as the lock to the cell clicked open. The guards were coming. The kids started running out the cell as the gang led the way, firing laser shots at the guards and tackling them down with karate moves. Passing by some spittle runners on the way, they finally arrived at Zim's base which was surprisingly intact as they arrived at the empty neighborhood. Running into the small house, Zim immediately descended to his lab, giving Dib instructions to lead the skool children through the elevators as the living room and kitchen crowded up. Dib did as he was told and, when he was finished, he and Gaz went to meet Zim at the computer room.

"What're you doing?" Dib asked.

"Enhancing the security of my base." Zim replied not taking his eyes off the keyboard while spittle runners shot at his lawn gnomes. "It's not strong enough to keep the spittle runners away."

Gaz glanced over Zim's shoulder, peeping at what he was doing.

"What do you want?" Zim complained.

"You're doing it all wrong." Gaz retorted.

"What?!" Zim exclaimed.

"Move." Gaz said, pushing Zim off the chair and typing commands on the keyboard.

Zim glared at the daring female before standing up to protest.

"What do you think you're do-!" Zim stopped himself mid-sentence as the cameras caught a spittle runner being fried by a huge laser shot coming from the gnomes. The ship fell useless to the ground with a loud clank as the other ships flew away in fear. "H-how… How did you…"

"Don't ask." Gaz said plainly as she left the room.

The boys fell in awkward silence as she left, not knowing what to say or do next.

"So…" Dib cleaned his throat. "We'll call this a truce?"

Dib extended his hand to Zim who took it, shaking it.

"Truce." Zim replied.

It was the first time, but the two boys found themselves sharing a moment of friendship and respect together, a link that would only get stronger on the days to come.


	4. Get Ready to Fight

Later that night, Dib went up to the living room of Zim's house where he spotted Gaz talking on the phone.

"Okay, we'll be waiting for you… Be careful, okay…? I love you." With that, she hung up the phone while Dib soot by her side on the couch.

"Who was it?" Dib asked.

"Dad." Gaz replied.

"Is he okay?" Dib asked nervous.

"Yes. I told him where we are. He's coming with some of his coworkers." Gaz said to ease Dib's nerves.

"I hope he'll make it. It's really dangerous outside." Dib pointed out.

"Of course he'll make it, Dib. It's dad we're talking about." Gaz smiled up at her brother.

"I guess you're right." Dib smiled back.

Seconds later, Zim ascended to the living room as well.

"So, how're the things down there?" Dib asked referring to the skool children.

"They're all frightened. But we should already expect that." Zim replied. "At least we managed to provide food and sleeping bags for everybody. It's amazing how many things can fit in GIR's head."

"I just don't know why we had to save everybody." Gaz complained.

"I know you don't like them, Gaz. But, if we're gonna fight an alien invasion, we might as well stick together." Dib retorted.

"But why did we have to save _those_ kids?" Gaz said annoyed.

"Who're you talking about?" Zim cut in, but they didn't pay attention to him.

"Look, I know you don't like them, but selecting who we're gonna save and who we're gonna leave to die is really unfair…" Dib pointed out.

"Do you know what's unfair?" Gaz cut off. "being forced to stand that bitch!" With that, Gaz left the room, going into the kitchen to see what Zim had to eat.

"What was that all about?" Zim asked Dib.

"Do you know that girl from our skool, Jessica?" Dib started.

"Yes. What about her?" Zim asked raising an eyebrow.

"Gaz really hates her and her friends. They're like mortal enemies." Dib explained.

"Oh, like you and me used to be." Zim pointed out smiling.

"Yeah, I guess you can say that." Dib smiled back before they heard a fuss coming from the outside.

The boys ran up to the window followed by Gaz where they saw Professor Membrane and other people in lab coats fighting the Irken soldiers that followed them there with laser guns that they probably got from the lab. Professor Membrane himself was kicking butt, not only shooting the Irkens, he also was tackling them down with karate moves.

"It's dad! He made it!" Gaz exclaimed joyous.

"You'll have to turn off the security system for them to get in!" Dib exclaimed to Zim who ran up to a hidden panel on the wall by the door, placing his palm on the reader as it beeped and turned the security system off while the humans approached.

Zim opened the door as Professor Membrane and the other scientists came rushing into the house, turning the security system back on afterwards.

"Wow, dad! You were amazing back there!" Gaz exclaimed hugging her father as they finally met.

"Yeah dad! I didn't know you could fight like that!" Dib said as Professor Membrane took him in an embrace as well.

"There're a lot of things you still don't know about me, kids." Membrane said affectionately to his children.

"Yes, very well!" Zim cut in. "But now we should be discussing our plans to…" Zim cut himself mid-sentence as Membrane and the others raised their guns at him.

"No, wait! Is okay… He's with us." Dib exclaimed placing himself between Zim and the others, stretching his arms on either side of his body in a defensive manner.

"Oh… Very well. I didn't know that." Membrane said lowering the gun. "Hey… Aren't you the foreign boy from my kids' skool?"

"I should've guessed." A hoarse, female voice could be heard from the back of the crowd of scientists. A familiar face emerged from the darkness as the scientists moved out of the way so that she could reveal herself.

"Ms. Bitters?!" Zim and Dib said in unison.

"You're still alive?" Zim asked confused.

"Yes, very alive. Unfortunately." She said that last word in a quieter tone.

"How did you find her, dad?" Dib asked his father.

"Oh, I bumped on your old teacher on my way here. She's quite a fighter, I have to tell you." Membrane said.

"I have to say." Ms. Bitters cut in. "From all the things that ever happened in my miserable life, this one deserves a prize. An alien invasion?" Ms. Bitters shook her head before continuing. "But I always suspected that Zim was indeed an alien. You were by far one of the worst students I ever had. But you always took good grades on the most difficult subjects, so I'll give you that."

Zim opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by Dib.

"Wait. If you knew that Zim was an alien, then why did you never say anything?" Dib complained at Ms. Bitters.

"Oh… Because I was having a fun time mocking you." Ms. Bitters replied with a blank expression.

Dib frowned at her statement before his father placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Son… I want to say that… I'm sorry." Membrane said slowly. "Sorry for never believing you and calling you crazy. It's just that I don't usually believe things that weren't scientifically proved…"

"Is okay, dad." Dib smiled up at his father. "Everybody seems to think the same as you, so…"

"I am truly sorry, my son." With that, Membrane gave Dib a hug while the other scientists went "Aaaaawww!" and Ms. Bitters hissed in repulse.

"Are you done, yet?" Zim cut in. "We need to discuss our plans to attack the invaders."

The whole crowd eyed each other before they all went down to the lab where everybody, including the skool children, gathered at the computer room so that Zim and Dib could explain the plan.

"Okay." Dib started. "So here's the thing: Tomorrow morning you'll all receive two weapons each one, a laser gun and a water gun." The crowd was confused at the words "water gun", but Dib continued. "The Irkens are intolerant to water. While we can use water to weaken them down if necessary, we can use the lasers to kill them. The laser guns will be adjusted to kill, so careful where you're aiming. The plan is mainly to kill the Tallests who are located in their ship near the Hi Skool, but we'll have to go to my house first to pick up some important stuff we left there. From there, we'll pass by the super market and the mall to gather food and other essentials as we head to the Swollen Eyeball headquarters, for they mentioned about something they were working on. It must be a powerful weapon that will help us destroy the Irkens."

"To kill an Irken is not too different from killing a human." Zim spoke up. "Just aim for their heads and torso. We Irkens have an organ called 'squeedly spooch', which spreads through our body as one single super organ." The crowd giggled silently at the words "squeedly spooch" before someone spoke up.

"Okay, but why can't we have our weapons now?" A strong, brunette jock known as Torque Smackey spoke up.

"Why do you wanna have your weapons now?" Dib asked.

"Because I'm not staying in this place with you two, unarmed!" Torque exclaimed.

"Excuse me?" Zim said.

"Aw, come on! You're kidding, right?!" Torque walked up to the front of the crowd. "Those two are gonna turn their backs on us as soon as they have a chance! I mean, come on! It's the big-head's fault that they're here! And the green one is one of them!" Torque pointed at each one of the boys who just remained calm.

"We have names, you know?" Zim complained.

"And, if you don't like it here, just know that nobody's making you stay." Dib said. "Just grab your guns and leave, I bet you won't last an hour out there."

"I bet he won't last five minutes." Zim cut in.

"Aw, come on! You're not falling for these guys, are you?!" Torque turned to face the crowd. "Come on, who's with me?"

Everybody looked at Torque as if he was insane, whispering among themselves, making Torque start to grow nervous.

"Come on, guys…! Jess!" Torque turned to Jessica who was standing in the crowd.

"Sorry, baby." Jessica apologized to her boyfriend. "But I wanna survive."

Torque made a face at Jessica before returning to the crowd fuming.

"Okay." Zim continued. "Right now, we should all go to sleep. We gonna need rest for what's to come, so you're all dismissed."

As the whole crowd dissipated, Zim, Dib, Gaz and Professor Membrane stayed at the computer room to talk.

"What's the matter with Smackey?" Zim complained.

"It's just what tragedies do to us. They tear us apart instead of keeping us close as it was supposed to be." Dib shrugged.

"Okay. Now there's something I wanted to give you guys." Zim said as he produced four gadgets that looked like walk talks from his PAK. "Use these communicators in case of any emergency. If we have to split up or warn each other of any rebels among us, they're connected to each other so that everybody will know. I also split up the skool children into two rooms for the night, so you'll have to split yourselves and keep an eye out for them. I'll stay in my room upstairs."

"Just warning that I won't stay in the same room as Jessica." Gaz warned.

"Yes, I know that." Zim narrowed his eyes. "Now go to rest, you'll need it."

And so, Professor Membrane and the three teenagers split themselves and went to sleep. Dib got one of the lowest floors where Jessica's gang was, Gaz and Professor Membrane stayed at one of the highest floors of the lab where most of Gaz's classmates gathered to sleep while Zim himself went to sleep in his room as he said. And that was the start of the longest night of their lives.


	5. The Longest Night of Our Lives

The kids whispered among themselves in their sleeping bags. It seemed that nobody would be able to fall asleep that night. They were worried about their lives, their families, their future, their planet. Gaz rolled in her sleeping bag as her father buried himself in a deep slumber by her side. _Just how can he sleep in a situation like this?!_ She thought. Gaz spent a good half an hour trying to fall asleep, but no such luck. With a million thoughts racing through her mind while her eyes closed tightly, she didn't notice someone approaching her.

"Hey, uhm…" Gaz heard a shy, female voice coming from behind her. She turned around to face a hippie blonde girl calling her. "Sorry to bother… But I can't sleep…"

"Yeah, me neither." Gaz cut her off grumpily.

"Sorry, I just…" The girl trailed off. Gaz raised a brow waiting for her to continue. "I wanted someone to talk to, but all my friends are in the other room…"

"Why the hell did your friends choose to leave you behind?" Gaz raised a brow suggestively.

"I… Don't know…" The girl looked down at the floor. Gaz was starting to think that her friends left her behind on purpose, but didn't say anything. "I'm Francine, by the way."

"Oh… Okay. Hi, Francine. I'm Gaz." Gaz greeted her back.

"I know. You're… Kinda famous around skool." Francine pointed out and Gaz looked down at the floor. "I-I mean, I've heard about you but… To this day I didn't know you were actually so amazing…"

"'Amazing'? Gaz smiled raising her brow. "How so?"

"Well… I've seen your drawings before and I have to say: you've got some talent. I myself am not that good. I… Used to take art classes with you…"

"Oh, yeah. You're the shy girl that sits at the back of the room, aren't you?" Gaz said.

"Yeah… I guess you could say that…" Francine replied slowly.

"Sorry. I didn't mean it like that…" Gaz started but Francine shook her head.

"Is okay. I know I'm shy but… I really wish I could be more like someone like you." Francine said admiringly. "You're so talented and strong and can fight and do such amazing things." Gaz smiled genuinely at the compliment before Francine continued. "And, up to this day, I have to confess… I was actually kinda scared out of you…"

"Well, thank you. But you don't wanna be like me, trust me." Gaz said as she lied back down on the sleeping back.

"Why not?" Francine asked, following her lead.

_"Why not"…?_ Gaz thought for a moment. She wanted to tell her the truth: because being Gazlene Membrane wasn't all that great, as Francine thought it was. She was lonely and, even though she did want human interaction sometimes, she just kept pushing people away from her. She scared people away from her, and the closest things she ever had to actual friends were her father and her brother. She thought it wasn't the best idea to tell her that, so Gaz just went with something else.

"Because you're unique…" Gaz replied after a moment. "There's no one else like you and you should be happy about that. And you might as well like yourself, you know? Just think about all the time you're gonna have to spend with you."

"You're right." Francine smiled. "Well, thank you for the talk Gaz. Good night."

"Good night." Gaz replied.

_Wow, that was cheesy as hell!_ Gaz thought about her speech as the two girls closed their eyes, trying to get some sleep.

* * *

Zim rolled in his bed trying to get some sleep as GIR himself slept deeply in his dog bed in the corner. It was about 7 hours into the night and he still didn't manage to get any sleep, just then Zim heard footsteps coming from the hallway. There was no possible way the Irkens could invade his domains without triggering the security system, so he figured it should be one of the skool children, however, with the possibility of it being Torque Smackey, he kept his guard up, but was surprised when he saw the purple haired female coming through the door.

"What do you want?" Zim asked her annoyed.

"Get out. I'm taking the bed." Gaz said plainly as she walked towards Zim.

"What?! This is _my_ house! You can't just boss me around and-!" Zim exclaimed as Gaz grabbed his antennae.

"I wasn't asking." Gaz said as she pulled Zim to the floor and took his place in the bed.

"But where will _I_ sleep?!" Zim asked from the floor, his eyes tearing up from the pain on his antennae.

"Sleep on the couch. I don't care." Gaz replied dryly. "I'm not going back to that sleeping bag."

With that, Zim eyed Gaz angrily before snatching the communicator that sat on the nightstand in his hand and taking GIR in his arms, then stormed out of the room and went to sleep on his couch.

* * *

Gaz had an agitated sleep, but _some_ sleep, at least. She woke up from a nightmare in an unfamiliar place. _Great._ She thought. _It wasn't a dream._ Gaz glanced over at the clock sitting on Zim's nightstand, it was around 3 in the morning. Seeing that it was useless to go back to sleep for now, Gaz got up from the bed and went to the kitchen to go fetch her something to drink. However, before she could make it to the kitchen door, Gaz passed by GIR who slept on his side on the couch in fetal position, but no sign of Zim. Gaz walked up to GIR and began shaking him.

"GIR." She called him. "GIR, where's Zim?" GIR didn't respond, he simply shook her hand away and rolled to the other side to continue sleeping. Then something hit Gaz. The communicator! She fetched it from her pocket and turned it on. "Zim… Zim where are you?" A brief buzzing sound enacted from the communicator before someone answered.

"I'm in the attic. What do you want?" Zim said grumpily, but Gaz didn't respond.

The attic? Gaz remembered seeing a flight of stairs in the hallway. She jogged back into the hallway and climbed up the stairs to the attic, but still no sign of Zim, only his ship that sat in the middle of the room.

"Zim?" Gaz called.

"I'm in here." Zim answered from the inside of the ship.

Gaz walked over to the ship to find Zim sitting on the driver's seat looking out the window, and automatically soot by his side.

"Couldn't sleep?" Zim asked after a short moment of silence.

"You too, I'm taking it." Gaz shrugged.

"Yeah." Zim said plainly.

Another moment of silence fell between them before Gaz started a conversation.

"Cool ship." Gaz said.

"Yeah. It's called Voot Runner. I wish we could use it in our battle, but it's no use in the current situation." Zim explained.

"Well, it would be nice to take it for a ride, but that's not possible because of… _That._ " Gaz spat, pointing out the window where Spittle Runners patrolled the skies.

"Yeah…" Zim said plainly.

"This is so messed up." Gaz sighed exasperatedly.

Another moment of silence fell between them before Zim spoke up.

"You know, I didn't know you were that powerful, little Gaz. Where did you learn to fight like that?" Zim asked, a shadow of a smile appeared on his lips.

"I took some martial arts classes." Gaz replied. "And you're not in any position of calling me 'little'. You're only like two inches taller than me."

"Still taller than you." Zim shrugged. A real smile cracking up on his lips, making Gaz smile as well.

Gaz's smile fell, something hovering above her head.

"Hey, Zim?" Gaz called Zim and he looked up at her. "Do you still wanna destroy the Earth?"

"I don't know…" Zim confessed. "I don't even know who to trust, anymore."

"You know… Humans may suck, but not all humans are like that. Sure, a lot of them will turn their backs on you as well, but… I guess there's still hope." Gaz said.

"Are you implying that I should live here… With the humans?" Zim asked perplexed.

"Well, your superiors already want to kill you, your whole planet hates you and, if we get to kill the Tallests, what then?" Gaz shrugged.

"… That's very considerate of you… Gaz-human." Zim mumbled and Gaz shrugged again. "Fine, I'll take your offer… Nobody has ever taken me in, so… Also, don't be so pessimist!" Gaz eyed him curiously. "' _If_ we get to kill the Tallests'? No. We _will_ kill the Tallests!"

"Wow, you're so megalomaniacal." Gaz laughed at Zim's pose.

"Whatever." Zim shrugged and leaned back on the seat, having Gaz following him.

They spent their moment together watching the Spittle Runners fly through the skies of the city, only now with more of an altruist look to them, dreaming about the ways they could possibly end the Tallests' lives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N:** I put a reference to Jerry Lewis in this chapie! Can anyone guess?


	6. Change of Plans

Zim had a turbulent sleep that night. He dreamt of the Tallests smiling and laughing in front of him as his life slowly ended by the removal of his PAK. Zim woke up with a jolt as his dream-self was engulfed by the darkness of death, the Tallests' laughing faces the last things he got to see before he opened his eyes to the real world. Gaz, who was sleeping by his side in the Voot Runner with her head rested on Zim's shoulder, woke up as well with Zim's jolt to reality. They eyed each other awkwardly before Gaz finally broke the silence.

"Did we sleep like this the whole night?" She asked embarrassed.

"It seems like it." Zim said indifferently.

Their thoughts were cut off by a buzzing sound enacting from their pockets, followed by Dib's worried voice.

"Zim! Gaz! Where are you?!" Dib exclaimed from his communicator.

Zim picked up his own communicator and spoke onto it, calming Dib's nerves.

"Easy, Dib-head! We're coming down, okay?" Zim tranquilized Dib before hopping off the ship followed by Gaz and descending the stairs to the hallway, walking into the living room where Dib, Ms. Bitters, Professor Membrane and his coworkers were waiting for them.

"You two had us worried." Professor Membrane said.

"Where were you, anyway?" Dib asked authoritatively.

"In the attic." Zim replied.

"The attic? What were you doing there?" Dib asked crossing his arms.

Zim started to think of a good answer. Just when he opened his mouth to say something, a loud crashing noise could be heard on the outside of Zim's house. Everybody looked out the window where the sound came from, seeing a trail of flames and smoke enacting from the lawn.

"What the-." Was all Zim could manage to say before he ran towards the door.

Deactivating the security system, Zim opened the front door to reveal a metal capsule on his lawn as flames dissipated from it, leaving a trail of smoke. Zim eyed the capsule curiously as the humans in his house gathered behind him to see what was happening.

"Zim! What are you doing?!" Dib hissed as Zim walked over to the capsule cautiously.

"This is Irken technology." Zim explained as he examined the capsule from afar.

"Yeah, I figured." Dib said sarcastically. "But what if it's some kind of bomb? We better be careful with it."

"No, this isn't a bomb. It looks more like some kind of escape module from one of the Spittle Runners." Zim explained as he approached the capsule. "If that is the case, the pilot must still be inside of it… Hm…" Peering into the escape module, Zim yelped in shock and tripped on his own feet, falling on his back as he tried to run.

"What?! What is it?!" Dib asked worried.

"It's…" Zim pointed a trembling hand to the escape module, horror never leaving his features. "It's Tak!"

Shock appeared on Dib's and Gaz's faces as well. Dib ran up to the steaming escape module where the familiar purple-eyed Irken lied unconscious. Something lit up in Dib's head, he didn't think twice.

"I need a crowbar!" Dib exclaimed as Zim looked at him as if he was insane.

"What?!" Zim asked perplexed as he stood up from the ground.

GIR came running to Dib, producing a crowbar from his head and handing it to him as he started forcing open the steaming hot metal door of the escape module.

"Dib! What do you think you're doing?!" Zim asked.

"What do you think I'm doing?! I'm saving her!" Dib shot back as the door fell to the ground.

"Why?!" Zim asked angrily.

Dib stopped for a moment. Why was he doing that? He thought for a moment before picking Tak up in his arms.

"She'll be a strong ally if we save her. With Tak by our side, our chances of winning this war will only double." That was Dib's excuse, which was true. Tak _would_ make a great ally but, in reality, that wasn't the main reason for Dib saving her.

"Are you insane?!" Zim exclaimed as Irken soldiers and Spittle Runners could be heard approaching his base.

"We don't have much time!" Dib exclaimed as he proceeded to take Tak into the base. "Take MiMi and let's go inside!"

Zim growled, but did as he was told all the same. They didn't have time to argue, anyway. As the teenagers took the Irken female and her SIR unit into the house, Zim turned the security system back on, and the Irkens on the outside ran away as they were attacked by lasers.

Dib carefully placed Tak's body on the couch, eyeing her worriedly as Zim simply tossed MiMi's carcass somewhere on the floor.

"Is she still alive?" Dib asked as he examined Tak's sleeping figure.

Zim grunted, kneeling by Tak's side and taking her wrist in his hands. Judging by her pulse and the movement on her chest, he came to a diagnosis…

"Ugh, she is." Zim hissed.

Dib sighed relieved by hearing that.

"Can you take care of her?" Dib asked Zim.

"No fucking way!" Zim exclaimed as he stood up from Tak's side, having Dib following his actions.

"Aw, come on, Zim! Don't be like that!" Dib exclaimed angrily.

"He has a reason to be like that." Gaz cut in. "That bitch tried emptying the core of the Earth to fill it with snacks!"

The crowd gathered in the living room began whispering and exchanging looks among themselves, making Dib grow nervous.

"Come on, guys!" Dib exclaimed. "Tak is very strong, you have no idea how! She would make a great ally! And, if we save her then, maybe she'll feel in our debt and fight by our side!"

"'Maybe'?" Gaz crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow.

"Come on, guys! _Please…!_ " Dib tried to protest, but nobody wanted to listen. "Okay… How about this: If she turns her back on us, then… We kill her. We are many and she's just one, there's no possible way she can defeat all of us. But, trust me, she will be of great help."

The crowd began eyeing each other again, as if talking by telepathy.

" _Fine._ " Gaz spat. "But if she turns her back on us, _I'll_ be the one to kill her."

"Thanks, guys." Dib smiled relieved.

Zim and Dib took Tak and MiMi to the medical bay of Zim's lab. Zim placed MiMi somewhere on the floor before walking over to Tak who was carefully placed on the surgery table by Dib.

"Can I do something to help?" Dib asked as Zim produced a tray with medical materials and a proper uniform to take the surgery.

"Yeah, go warn the kids that our departure will be delayed." Zim said as he dressed the medical gown, the mask and the sterilized gloves. "We'll need more time for Tak to fully recover. We can't just be carrying some dead weight around like that."

"Sure." Dib said plainly before heading out the medical bay.

"And… Dib." Zim called Dib before he could pass through the door. "I know why you're doing this okay? But you should also keep an eye out for anything suspect from her. Also, try to take it easy if she betrays us."

With that, Zim got back to Tak on the table as Dib left the medical bay silently and went to warn the skool kids about their delay. That twist of plans would rather be good or bad for them, it all depended on Tak. Which side would she pick to fight for? Only time would tell.


	7. Unusual Bonds are Forming

Zim spent a good couple of hours nursing Tak back to health. His classmates were _not_ happy to know that their departure was delayed, and were even more pissed when they knew that it was delayed because of someone like Tak. Dib, Gaz and Professor Membrane had to spend a good half an hour trying to ease their nerves while Zim took care of Tak. When night fell, Zim dragged his feet into his room on the first floor, directing himself straight to bed.

"Ugh, what a day." Zim sighed as he collapsed back first on the bed.

"Ow!" Zim was startled by a female voice coming from beneath him.

Zim jumped back on his feet and noticed a lump on his bed that he didn't see there before. He saw the covers shuffling before a familiar purple-headed female uncovered her face to glare at Zim.

"What is wrong with you?!" Gaz complained at him.

"What's wrong with me?" Zim repeated her last words feeling offended. "What are you doing in my bed?!"

"I thought you already knew how things are going to work, from now on." Gaz said firmly. " _I_ get the bed. And I don't care where you'll sleep. I'm not sleeping in that sleeping bag."

Zim pinched his "nose" bridge, trying to stay calm.

"Can we at least get to a middle-term?" Zim sighed.

"No. Get out." Gaz demanded, laying back down on the bed.

"Oh, come on, Dib-sister! It's a couple's bed! Why can't we share it?!" Zim whined.

"What?!" Gaz turned her attention back to Zim, startled by his proposal.

"The bed is big enough for the both of us." Zim explained as if Gaz didn't understand the question. "We could very well sleep together."

"Oh my God! Do you even realize how wrong that sounds?!" Gaz exclaimed.

" _What?_ " Zim asked confused.

"We are not. Sharing. This bed! Get out!" Gaz yelled throwing a pillow at Zim's head, who stormed out the room fuming.

* * *

Zim had trouble sleeping that night. No surprise, after all he had a harsh day and had to sleep on the couch. Gaz, on the other hand, was able to get some sleep, but woke up in the middle of the night with the grunts of pain and discomfort that came from Zim in the other room. Could she have been too harsh on him? She caught herself thinking. After all, it's not like he meant what it sounded like he meant. _This is stupid!_ Gaz thought as she rolled on the bed, trying to go back to sleep, but let's say that Zim's grunts and their current situation weren't helping. Gaz clacked her tongue in annoyance, sitting up on the bed. She rubbed her eyes and got up, walking over to Zim who was trying to get some sleep on the couch.

"Zim." Gaz called him.

"What now?" Zim asked annoyed.

"You can take the bed, okay?" Gaz said motioning with her hand to the bedroom. "I guess you deserve it after being forced to babysit that bitch." Gaz said referring to Tak.

Zim eyed her incredulously.

"Thanks, Gaz-human." Zim said sitting up on the couch.

Zim picked GIR up in his arms and walked over to the hallway, heading to bed. He passed by Gaz who directed herself to the couch.

"Are you sure you don't wanna share the bed?" Zim asked, catching Gaz off guard. "I mean, it's more comfortable than sleeping on the couch."

"Thanks, Zim." Gaz said as she adjusted herself on the couch. "But you sure don't know how things work. I prefer to sleep on the couch than to sleep in the same bed as you."

"Why is that?" Zim asked dumbfounded.

"Wow, you really don't get it." Gaz said placing a hand to her forehead. "Look, Zim. There're a few things you still don't understand about this planet. One is that you only sleep in the same bed with someone you like. The other one is that, in some cases, when two people sleep in the same bed, that could mean something more to it, you know?"

"Like what?" Zim asked, seemingly interested about what Gaz was saying.

"Sex, Zim." Gaz sighed.

Zim blushed a darker shade of green. He didn't know it could mean that way…

"Wh-! No, but-! I only suggested that because I just wanted to sleep in my bed…" Zim stuttered. "Plus, I thought it wouldn't be a problem, since we already… Slept…. Together…"

"Good night, Zim." Gaz said laying on the couch.

Zim stared at her for a moment before heading to his room.

* * *

Gaz woke up by dawn with her body aching from sleeping on the couch. She sat up and stretched, making her back crack by the action. She didn't feel sleepy at all, so thought it was useless to try and go back to sleep, so she searched for the TV remote and turned it on. No surprise, there wasn't much to watch but the news, so she gave up browsing and listened to what they had to say about the Irken invasion.

Minutes later, Zim walked up into the room yawning and spotted Gaz watching TV on the couch.

"Good morning." He greeted.

"Mm." Gaz hummed in reply.

Zim walked up by her side on the couch, being followed by GIR shortly after who jumped on the couch and soot by Gaz's side.

"The aliens invading Earth seem to be hostile." Said the frightened reporter on the TV. "They call themselves 'Irkens', but that's all we know about them, aside from that they want to enslave humanity and possibly destroy our planet afterwards. We managed to hide in a subterranean hideout, but we don't have enough supplies for everybody to endure the invasion until it ends. _If_ it ends." The screen started to shake with what seemed like bombs exploding from the outside. "We don't know how many of us there are left, and the so called 'Irkens' are spreading through the globe like a massive worldwide plague." The reporter made another pause as the screen started shaking again. "If there is someone, _anyone_ out there who can stop them, _please_ , do it before it's too-!" The screen shook again and it seemed like the camera man dropped the camera before static filled the screen.

Gaz turned off the TV and Zim looked down at her concerned.

"Are you okay, little Gaz?" Zim asked tenderly.

"No." Gaz replied, playing with GIR's antenna. "This is all so messed up."

"Don't worry, Gaz-human. Things will work out." Zim tried comforting her.

"And how can you be so sure of that?" Gaz asked pessimistically.

"Because there's no one better at saving the Earth than me!" Zim bragged. "I know things will work for us." Zim said placing a hand on Gaz's shoulder. "You'll see."

"You're touching me." Gaz complained and Zim removed his hand from her shoulder almost immediately.

"Well, uhm…" Zim mumbled. "I guess I'll go check out on Tak. See if she's awake."

Zim left the room leaving Gaz and GIR behind, then descended the elevator to the medical bay.

Gaz watched Zim leave before looking down at GIR who smiled at her like a goof, and Gaz smiled back.

* * *

Dib, Miss Bitters, Professor Membrane and his coworkers ascended to the kitchen on the first floor of Zim's base where they spotted Gaz having breakfast at the dinner table. GIR was on the stove finishing making pancakes for everybody.

"Good morning." Dib greeted Gaz.

"Good morning, daughter." Professor Membrane greeted as well.

"What's so good about it?" Gaz let out, not even bothering to look up at them.

Dib and Professor Membrane eyed each other before heading to go sit on the table with Gaz and the others.

"Look, honey." Membrane started. "I know that things aren't too great right now, but you can't be that pessimist, either."

"Why does everybody keep saying that?" Gaz complained. "Our planet is being attacked by some war addict alien race, and who knows what will even happen to us afterwards?!"

"Gaz, calm down." Dib intervened. "I know that this is very messed up, but it's not…" Dib held his tongue before he could say "the end of the world". Gaz eyed him perking an eyebrow. "I mean." Dib cleared his throat. "Yeah, the Irkens are strong and they're many and have much more advanced technology than us. But we still have Zim by our side."

"What's your point?" Gaz asked.

"Have you ever seem how bad he is at destroying the planet?" Dib pointed out. "He's so bad at it that, every time he gets close of doing so, he saves it! Plus, that could tell a lot about the Irkens in general."

"Yeah, but Zim is defective." Gaz pointed out.

"Uh, yeah. You're right about that." Dib said nervously. "But still. With Zim by our side, there's no way we can lose this war!"

"Well said, son!" Membrane congratulated his son. "Now, eat your pancakes before they get cold." Membrane said to Gaz, but she didn't want to listen.

Gaz stood up and directed herself to the living room but, before she could make it, she was stopped by the kitchen doorframe by Zim's roboparents.

"Welcome home, son!" The roboparents exclaimed in unison.

Gaz was just about to shove them out of her way, but an idea suddenly stroke her.

* * *

Zim was walking out the medical bay after checking on Tak when he passed by a room where he saw a somewhat weird scene in front of him: his roboparents were stretched out on the floor while Gaz was apparently messing with their circuits and Dib helped her with the tools they found in the lab.

"What are you doing?" Zim asked.

"I'm reprogramming your, uhm… Roboparents." Gaz answered.

"Why?" Zim asked again.

"They could be useful for us." Gaz shrugged.

Zim paused. He seemed to be wondering about something.

"You seem to know a lot about Irken technology, little Gaz." Zim pointed out.

"Yeah? So?" Gaz looked up at him.

"Do you think you could reprogram GIR as well?" Zim asked. "I already tried it, but… Well… Let's say it didn't work."

Gaz paused. She looked at Zim pondering about something before turning her attention back to Robomom.

"I'd rather not." Gaz replied slowly.

"Why not?" Zim asked confused. "He could be useful in our battle that way."

"Because I like GIR the way he is." Gaz said, surprising the boys.

"What?" Zim and Dib exclaimed in unison before Dib spoke up. "I thought he annoyed you."

"Well, he _is_ kinda dumb." Gaz said. "But I find him fun and… Rather cute."

"'Cute'?" Zim repeated.

"What? You don't like him?" Gaz asked Zim.

"It's not that." Zim said. "I do like him the way he is, I just think that he would be of better help if you improved him."

"But if I do that, he'll never be what he is like, again." Gaz turned to Zim. "Because I can only improve him, but I can't mess him back up. I'm not very good at that."

"Well, maybe you could let Zim mess him back up, afterwards." Dib cut in.

"Hey!" Zim complained.

"I'd rather not risk it." Gaz replied, ignoring Zim's protest. "He would probably mess him up more than what he already is."

The Membrane siblings started laughing and Zim watched them fuming before stomping out the room. Zim slowed his pace mid-way from the door with Gaz's laughing face suddenly reappearing on his mind. He never saw her smile like that before, usually she only smiled or laughed when mocking someone (which was the case), but that time she looked different. She looked… Pretty. _What am I thinking?!_ Zim thought, pausing right in front of the elevator and blushing a darker shade of green. Zim shook his head and resumed his walk, entering the elevator and heading to the first floor. He didn't have anything to eat since he woke up to check on Tak, he was needing it, after all.


	8. Risings and Heart Brakes

Darkness was all around her as she slowly regained consciousness. She could hear a faded beeping sound by her side and felt like she was resting on top of something soft. She slowly opened her eyes as her audition and tact were fully recovered and moaned as her blurry vision slowly adjusted to her surroundings. She saw a green smudge with a couple of glowing red orbs hovering in front of her. As her vision was finally fully adjusting, she saw the image of her arch-enemy, Zim, towering in front of her.

Tak panicked. The beeping sound of the monitor by her side went crazy and she started to desperately look at her surroundings as she tried to get up and run away with the little strength that was left in her.

"Calm down." Zim said bossily as he grabbed both Tak's shoulders and pinned her in place in the hospital bed she rested.

Taking in the situation, Tak realized that she was in Zim's laboratory, in a part that seemed like the medical bay. She realized that she rested on a bed and had her body connected to a few tubes and wires. Panic never left her features as she noticed the growing pain spreading through her body. Just what kind of crazy experiment did Zim play on her?!

"What did you do to me?!" Tak asked Zim desperately, almost in a whisper, as tears sprouted from her eyes.

"I just saved your life, you ungrateful bitch!" Zim yelled at Tak's face as he released her shoulders and placed his hands on his hips.

"What…? What happened?" Tak asked slowly.

"Your escape module crashed on my front yard." Zim started explaining. "We rescued you and took you to my lab's medical bay where I nursed you back to health."

" _… Why?_ " Tak asked dumbfounded after a moment.

"It was Dib-head's idea." Zim shrugged.

Tak took a moment to let that information sink in. Just what was he talking about? Even after all she's done to them, they simply decide to save her?! _That_ was hard to believe.

"I…" Tak started.

"Look, I know it's hard to believe." Zim cut her off. "But trust me when I say that neither of us wanted to save you. It was Dib-head's idea, like I told you."

"I don't understand." Tak said knitting her eyebrows together.

"Which part don't you understand?" Zim asked as if there was something obvious, but Tak still didn't quite get it.

"Can…" Tak started. "Can I talk to Dib?"

Zim looked at Tak's face, his expression unreadable, as if he was pondering about something.

"Sure." Zim shrugged and produced a communicator from his pocket, speaking onto it. "Dib-beast, I need you in the medical bay. She's awake."

Dib didn't answer. A few minutes later, he came jogging into the room. Dib looked from Zim to Tak panting before turning his attention to Zim.

"Zim, can you leave us alone for a second?" Dib asked.

Zim raised a brow suggestively and walked out the room before Dib could say anything at that. A heavy, awkward silence fell upon them as Zim left, leaving Dib and Tak staring at each other awkwardly.

"So, uh…" Dib started.

"Why did you save me?" Tak cut him off.

Dib looked at her questioningly. It took a moment for him to reply.

"You really don't know, Tak?" Dib asked her, playing out a sad smiled, but Tak didn't answer. Dib frowned sighing, then slowly walked up to her, sitting by her side on the bed. "You know… Tak." Dib started after a moment of silence. "Even though you tried to destroy my planet… Even though you never really seemed to care, I never forgot about you. I don't know, I guess it's because you were the only one who actually listened to me and didn't treat me as if I was crazy. But… I guess there was something more to it… Because even after I found out who you actually were… I never stopped thinking about you…" Dib paused as he saw Tak's puzzled face. Scratching the back of his head, Dib was taken by a sudden embarrassment. "Uhm…" Dib tried to explain himself, but was cut off by Tak.

"Dib… Are you trying to say that you love me?" Tak asked confused.

"Wh- No! It's not that-!" Dib started shaking his hands negatively.

"I've made enough research about the Earth's habitants before landing here for the first time." Tak cut him off. "I know well how human emotions work and all the process of human mating rituals, but I can't say that I'll ever feel the same for you."

Dib was taken aback. Maybe he expected that, but he still didn't know how to react to a turn down.

"What…? And how can you be so sure of that?" Dib asked slowly.

"Because we Irkens aren't programed that way." Tak explained.

Dib looked at the floor, half sad half angry, letting the room fill itself with a heavy, uncomfortable silence.

"I'm sorry, Dib." Tak apologized.

"It doesn't matter." Dib said plainly as he stood up and marched out the room.

Dib passed through the medical bay's door rubbing his eyes from under his glasses as the door slid shut behind him. Looking up, he realized that he wasn't alone.

Zim looked at Dib suggestively, crossing his arms over his chest as he laid his back on the corridor's wall.

"You really did tell her, didn't you?" Zim asked trying to control his tone.

"Yeah, I did." Dib spat as anger built up inside of him. "And why didn't _you_ tell me that Irkens aren't programmed to feel love?!" Dib pointed an accusatory finger at Zim. "You could have saved me a lot of trouble by doing that simple thing, you know?!"

"Relax, Dib-monkey!" Zim shouted back at Dib, slapping his hand away from his face. "Okay, I did omit that information. But do you know why? Because you really needed a slap on your face to stop obsessing over her! Because of you, we now have an enemy in my base, and she can very well expose us to the Tallests and get us all killed!"

"Okay, you're right about that." Dib pinched his nose bridge. "But did you really need to do that?! Why didn't you tell me that before, and spared us a lot of trouble?! Plus, you're not helping me here, Zim!"

Silence fell between them as Dib looked down at the floor to try and hide his tears. Zim would have said something more to Dib if he didn't note his trembling lip.

"I'm sorry, okay?" Zim said, trying to ease the situation. "I didn't know that you cared that much about her. I myself am unable to feel that much love for someone, even though I'm…" Zim paused and sighed before continuing. "Defective. But, I guess it's not impossible for Tak to feel the same for you. I mean, yeah, we Irkens have our PAKs programmed to not feel love, but maybe they do have that emotion but in such minimum amount that we can barely feel it. But… When we do, it's just as great as how the humans feel it."

"How can you be so sure of that?" Dib asked wiping another tear from his eye.

"Because… Well…" Zim stuttered nervously as his face turned into a darker shade of green.

"Don't tell me you like someone!" Dib exclaimed.

"Uhm…" Zim muttered.

"Oh my God! Who is it?!" Dib exclaimed, startling Zim.

"That's not of your business!" Zim exclaimed, blushing madly.

"Okay, okay." Dib raised his hands. "Is it a girl, at least?"

"Will you drop it…?! It is!" Zim exclaimed embarrassed.

Dib started laughing at his friend's behavior until that something hit him.

"Hey, Zim?" Dib said, his seriousness coming back. "What are we going to do with Tak, now?"

"I don't know." Zim confessed. "Are you willing to keep trying?" Zim asked and Dib nodded reluctantly. "So we better have her by our side. Plus, we can't just throw her out there for a soldier to find. You were right, after all. She _is_ going to be of great help if we have her by our side."

"Right." Dib mumbled looking down.

"Hey, don't be like that." Zim placed a hand on Dib's shoulder, trying to comfort him. "If it doesn't work with her, then you should skip to a next one. Isn't that how things work?" Dib didn't answer. "Well, I better go back there." Zim said heading back to the medical bay. "I still need to fix her SIR unit after all. Can you call GIR and tell him to bring me some food for Tak?" Zim asked Dib who nodded and went upstairs as Zim came back to the medical bay.

Zim walked up to where MiMi laid on the floor as Tak eyed him awkwardly. Zim was just about to leave to another room and begin MiMi's repair when Tak spoke up.

"Zim…" Tak called and Zim looked over at her. "I… This is a lot to digest… Did that Dib kid only save me because he loves me?"

"Well, I guess that that was the main reason." Zim shrugged walking up to Tak.

"… So what now?" Tak asked after a moment.

"Look, Tak. Love was not the only reason for Dib wanting to save you." Zim explained. "You'll also be of great help if we have you as an ally."

"'Ally'?" Tak repeated confused. "What for?"

"Well I guess I should give you an update to what is happening, right now." Zim started as he placed MiMi's carcass on the bed when GIR walked up to him producing a bowl filled with some green goo and a spoon from his head. "Thanks GIR."

Zim took the bowl and the spoon from GIR's hands and offered them to Tak, who looked at them suspiciously.

"Relax, it's just soup." Zim said. "It's the only thing you can eat for now, after all."

Tak took the spoon and the soup-filled bowl reluctantly and began eating as Zim resumed his explanation.

"Okay, so here's what's happening…" Zim started. "The Irken empire is invading Earth."

Tak choked and almost spit the soup she had in her mouth as Zim pronounced those words.

"What?!" Tak exclaimed. "Why?! How?!"

"Well, apparently some transmission leaked from my base and reached the Tallests." Zim explained. "They thought that the Earthlings were going to attack Irk, and sent the whole armada to Earth."

Zim looked down at Tak who was in utter shock. She eyed Zim with her mouth agape, not knowing what to say next.

"Look, if you're going to pick them over us, you can make that decision now." Zim complained. "But, just so you know, we already agreed on killing you if you turn your back on us."

Tak looked down at the bowl in her hands. That was a very delicate situation…

"Fine." Zim said. "You can have some time to think. I'm just warning you that you don't have that much time for it. When you fully recover, we're leaving with or without you."

Tak pondered for a moment, watching her reflex on the soup.

"'Leaving'?" She thought out loud. "Where are you going?"

"There's no way we'll simply sit back and watch the planet be enslaved and transformed into another parking lot or whatever the Tallests are planning, this time." Zim said morbidly. "We're gonna fight."

"You're kidding, right?" Tak laughed. "Zim, there's no way the Earthlings can defeat the armada."

"I'd rather try than surrender." Zim shot back.

Zim grabbed MiMi angrily and left the room without any more words. Tak watched as he disappeared. Zim's and the humans' stubbornness where going to get all of them killed, and they were all just slowing down that process.


	9. Her Choice/Betrayals

Tak sat alone on the hospital bed having lunch, the other day. She was recovering fast, so she was now able to eat solid food. Gaz ordered Zim's roboparents to stand guard in the recovery room to make sure that Tak wouldn't try anything. Zim locked MiMi in another room to make sure that she wouldn't attack anybody. Tak was just finishing her lunch when Dib came strolling into the room.

"Hi, Tak". He greeted awkwardly, not able to look in her eyes.

Tak didn't know what to say. He sure was doing that forcedly, since Tak was visibly recovering very fast and they were going to take off anytime soon. It was written on his face that he needed more time before going to talk to her.

"If you're here to persuade me, you should know that I hadn't made up my mind, yet-." Tak started.

"I'm not here for that." Dib cut her off. "I mean, sure you would be an amazing ally fighting by our side. But I know that you find this whole plan not worth your time." Dib took firm steps closer to the bed and grabbed its footboard with such strength that his knuckles turned white. "I just need to know if I still have any chance."

"Why are you still insisting, Dib?" Tak sighed. "You should give up on me."

"I know what you said." Dib started. "But Zim… He told me he has feelings for someone. He may be defective, but-." Dib trailed off as he saw the look on Tak's face and sighed. "Do you even feel anything for me?"

"The only thing I feel for you is remorse." Tak said.

It was like a light lit up Dib's path. Tak shook her head when she saw the hopeful look on Dib's face.

"Dib, I-." Tak started, but wasn't able to finish the sentence.

"Will you give me a chance?" Dib asked.

"Stop it, Dib." Tak said, trying to control her tone. "You don't want to love someone like me."

"You're right, Tak. I don't." Dib said firmly. "But we don't choose who we fall in love with. Do you even know how that's like?" Tak didn't reply as the answer was obvious. "Of course you don't."

A heavy, awkward silence fell upon them for what seemed like hours before Dib turned his back on Tak and proceeded to walk away.

"Dib." Tak called, making Dib stop on his tracks. "I… I know which side to pick to fight for." Dib turned to look at her curiously. "I want to fight for Earth… I want to fight for the humans."

Dib looked away for a moment, as if pondering about something.

"Why?" Dib asked simply.

"Because I want to know how that's like." Tak replied. "I want to know how 'love' is like. I know you all still hate me… But still, you saved me from imminent death. In my planet, what I did would mean instant death without any thinking… You could've very well left me to die or just shot my squeedly spooch and spit on my carcass… But you didn't."

"So." Dib turned to her. "Are you actually feeling grateful or just want to study human behavior?"

"… Both." Tak replied after a moment looking down shyly.

Dib didn't say a word, he simply walked over to Tak and picked up her empty tray of food.

"Are you sure, Tak?" Dib asked before taking the tray away.

"We don't have much chance against the Irken empire." Tak shook her head. "But I'd rather die fighting for the humans than continue living as a meaningless war machine."

"So I guess you realized how things work on your planet." Dib smirked. "But don't be so pessimist. With you and Zim by our side, we still have a chance."

Tak didn't answer, for she knew how small their chances were. Dib proceeded to take the tray away, and Tak watched as he disappeared behind to sliding door.

* * *

Things were pretty tense the other day. Everybody woke up earlier than they should, but they were all agitated for the due date and couldn't sleep any longer. After breakfast, Zim and Dib went over the plan one more time before handing everybody their laser and water guns, all except for Tak, who only received two water guns to defend herself, hence they still didn't trust her fully.

Thankfully, Zim was able to fix Tak's holo-disguise. They agreed it was better for them to wear disguises to not be attacked by other people they might encounter, that was an Irken invasion after all, and Zim and Tak could be confused with enemies. Tak turned on her holo-disguise while Zim had to make a new one, since his original disguise was left at the skool, he also put on a hooded sweatshirt to be safe.

The skool children left Zim's house in groups. They were all reluctant and yelling battle cries as they ascended the elevators and passed through the door. Zim, Gaz, Dib, Tak, Miss Bitters, Professor Membrane and his coworkers only left the house when they were sure that everybody departed.

The path to the Membranes' household seemed longer than it actually was as they ran into the streets fighting Irken soldiers and spittle runners. When they finally made it to the Membranes', Dib and Gaz ran up to their rooms to pick up Dib's laptop and Gaz's security robots as everyone else kept the Irkens busy at the front yard.

When the siblings ran out the door, the rebel crowd directed themselves straight to the super market where they would stop to rest and gather supplies for their battle. It was hard to pass the whole crowd through the automatic double doors, but they managed it as Zim's roboparents and Gaz's security robots fought the Irkens on the outside. Professor Membrane quickly locked the double doors as the Irkens were defeated on the outside by the carnivore robots.

"That should do." Membrane said as he managed to lock the market's doors.

"Okay, everybody. Listen up!" Zim shouted, directing himself to the crowd in front of him. "We'll have to spend the night here and gather supplies, but only take the strictly essential. We don't want any dead weights slowing us down because of a heavy backpack."

"Who does he think he is?" Torque complained to Jessica and his friends as the crowd carried on with their business and started filling their backpacks with food and other essentials from the market.

Gaz was taking snacks from the shelves and stuffing them in her backpack when someone walked up to her.

"You did very well out there, Gaz-human." Zim complimented as he picked up a bag of chips from the shelves as well and examined it.

"Thanks…" Gaz said, feeling a bit surprised. "So did you."

"Thanks." Zim replied as he handed GIR the bag and he opened it without thinking twice. "No, GIR!" Zim exclaimed. "Those are for later. Keep them in your head."

"Awww." GIR bowed his head disappointed, but did as he was told all the same.

Zim heard a giggle behind him as GIR stuffed the bag in his head. Looking behind, he noticed Gaz smiling down at GIR.

"Do you really find him cute?" Zim asked Gaz, pointing down at GIR.

"Yeah." Gaz replied raising an eyebrow. "You don't?"

"Eh, I don't think we actually use that word in my planet." Zim scratched the back of his head.

"You shouldn't be eating that much junk food, you know…" They heard Dib's voice coming from the end of the hall.

"Shut up, Dib." Gaz replied to his comment as she resumed stuffing up her bag with snacks. "It's not like we have much choice."

"Say what you want. You always eat too much junk food." Dib said to Gaz, who rolled her eyes.

"Zim, can I talk to you for a moment?" Dib directed himself to Zim.

"Sure." Zim shrugged.

The boys went to a corner that was out of eyes reach and Dib started to think how he should put that.

"Okay." Dib started. "Do you really think that I have a chance with Tak?"

"Let me tell you a story, Dib-head." Zim sighed. "In the day I was born, the first thing I saw was a mechanical arm controlled by one of the control brains. In the moment I saw it, I immediately hugged it, and my first words were 'I love you, cold, unfeeling robot arm', so I guess you do have a chance with her, you just need time and patience."

"Yeah, Zim. But you're defective." Dib said without thinking, but realized what he just said for the look on Zim's face. "I'm sorry… I didn't mean to."

"Is okay." Zim said slowly. "I know I am defective, I'm just saying that it's not impossible for an Irken to love. I, for an example, may feel the same amount of love and other emotions as the humans. Other Irkens most probably can feel love too, they just can't express it very well."

Dib looked down at the floor pondering before speaking up again.

"You know, Tak did tell me that she felt remorse for me." Dib said slowly.

"That could be a start." Zim smiled.

Dib looked up at his friend smiling weakly when he noticed a laser gun pointed at them from behind Zim. Zim looked over to where Dib was looking, and saw Torque raising a gun at them. They didn't have much action as the laser charged. All they could do was raise their arms to protect their faces as a laser shot pierced the air.

The boys looked at Torque's direction as they noticed that the laser didn't hit any of them, and saw Gaz towering above Torque menacingly. Torque almost pissed his pants as he stared back at Gaz frightened and palped the floor trying to reach the laser gun that he dropped with Gaz's tackle. Gaz was faster and grabbed Torque by the collar, raising him from the floor despite being quite smaller than him, and glared right into his eyes.

"I'm sorry! I-! Huh?!" Torque trailed off as he noticed his hands being cuffed behind his back.

"I just had enough of you, Smackey!" Zim exclaimed as he finished cuffing Torque's wrists.

Gaz shoved Torque to the floor as the crowd began to gather around them.

"You can't do that!" Torque protested. "We gotta stick together, right?!"

"Say the filth that tried to kill us minutes ago." Zim said morbidly with a shadow casting over his face.

Torque eyed them frightened before looking back at the gun that laid on the floor, but Gaz was faster.

"I don't think you'll need this, anymore." Gaz said as she picked up the gun and handed it to Zim.

Torque started crying when Jessica showed up at the front row, shoving everyone out of her way to go see what was going on.

"What's happening here?!" Jessica exclaimed before gasping at the scene in front of her. "Baby! Are you okay?!" She said as she ran up to her boyfriend and kneeled by his side, trying to comfort him.

"Oh, give me a break." Zim rolled his eyes.

"What did you do?!" Jessica asked the three teenagers towering above them.

"What we did?!" Gaz repeated. "That junk tried to kill Zim and my brother, Jessica!"

"Excuses!" Jessica stood up taking a threatening position. "You're making that up!"

"Seriously?!" Gaz narrowed her eyes.

"What? Did anyone even see that?" Jessica said. "I bet you just want to get rid of us only because you don't like us! Is that how we should treat each other in the middle of this end of world?! And why do you think you can just boss us around like that?! Who even decided that you could lead us?!" Jessica raised her gun at Gaz's head, charging it. "They may be blind to it, but I won't accept it!"

Jessica was just about to fire at Gaz, but Gaz was faster, pulling out her own gun and shooting on Jessica's side, hitting her hair. Jessica screamed and dropped her gun as her hairdo was ruined.

"What the hell?!" Jessica yelled, seeing what Gaz did to her hair.

Zim quickly walked over to Jessica, picked the gun she dropped up from the floor and shoved it in his PAK before producing another pair of handcuffs.

"What? You're kidding right?" Jessica said as Zim locked the cuffs on her wrists behind her back.

"Gaz-human, will you help me with Smackey?" Zim directed himself to Gaz as he proceeded to take Jessica to the back of the market.

"With pleasure." Gaz said as she walked over to Torque and forced him to stand up and walk.

Zim and Gaz threw the traitors in a room at the back of the market, locking it afterwards. Jessica tried desperately kicking the door open to no avail.

"Will you stop that?" Torque complained at his girlfriend. "There's no way a wussy like you could kick open a metal door."

"Excuse me?!" Jessica turned over to Torque with disdain. "It's _your_ fault we're here!"

"Yeah, like I would let those pussies lead us to a trap!" Torque walked over to Jessica. "You know they would get us killed! You should be thanking me!"

"Thank you?!" Jessica laughed sarcastically. "for what?! Getting ourselves locked in a dark room?!"

"It's that or dying out there." Torque shrugged. "God dammit. Use your tiny brain for once, you stupid bitch!"

Jessica clicked, she couldn't take it anymore. She kicked her boyfriend's nuts without thinking twice. Torque howled in pain as he laid on the floor in fetal position while Jessica sat at corner and cried silently.

On the inside of the market, Zim went to meet the crowd they gathered after all that fuss.

"So." He started. "Does anyone want to join them?"

The crowd went silent, including Torque and Jessica's friends, who looked down at the floor as if nobody was talking to them.

"That's what I thought." Zim crossed his arms.

Zim and the others walked away and resumed their activities as the crowd dissipated. The market filled itself with a heavy, uncomfortable silence until nightfall.


	10. Discoveries

When night fell, everybody prepared to sleep on the sleeping bags that GIR provided. They searched for a spot to sleep far from Zim, Dib or Gaz for the fuss they got themselves into a few hours ago, however it wasn't long before Francine walked up to Gaz.

"Hey, Gaz." Francine greeted her in her shy voice.

"Are you sure you wanna hang out with me, right now?" Gaz complained.

"You can say what you want." Francine smiled as she proceeded to sit by Gaz's side. "But I think that Jessica and Torque deserved it."

Gaz smiled knowing that at least someone was by their side in that story.

The girls began chattering as if they were good old friends. They were so entertained with their talk that didn't notice someone approaching.

Zim carried his sleeping bag around the market while the skool children eyed him cautiously. He didn't feel welcome at that moment, and felt like hanging out with Gaz, for some reason but, when he finally found her, he saw that she already had company. Gaz was talking to a pale blonde girl at a corner, and they didn't seem to notice him, so Zim decided to leave it alone and sleep someplace else. Gaz looked up to where Zim was standing moments ago, but saw nobody there.

"What?" Francine asked, looking up at the same direction.

"Nothing." Gaz shook her head and resumed their talk.

Zim found Dib sitting at a corner with his laptop on his lap. He seemed to be working on something.

"What are you doing?" Zim asked his friend, sitting by his side.

"I'm trying to contact one of the Swollen Eyeball members, but no such luck." Dib said as he closed his laptop to save some battery.

"What's that 'Swollen Eyeball' you keep talking about?" Zim asked perking a brow.

"It's a secret organization formed by paranormal investigators and aspiring-to-be." Dib explained. "They said they were working on something behind the covers, which I believe will help us in our battle."

"And what are they working on?" Zim asked.

"I don't know." Dib shrugged. "They didn't tell me because they said they wanted to make me a surprise."

Zim pondered about the fact of the "Swollen Eyeball" members lying to Dib to get him out of their back, everybody found him annoying after all, but Zim decided to keep that thought to himself and not hurt Dib's feelings.

Silence fell upon them when Zim noticed Professor Membrane sleeping by Dib's side.

"How can he sleep in a situation like this?" Zim asked pointing at Professor Membrane.

"I was just asking myself the same thing minutes ago." Dib laughed.

Zim smiled back at him, but it soon fell as he started pondering about something.

"Hey, Dib?" Zim called. "How do you know when someone likes you?"

"Uh… I don't know." Dib rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed by the sudden awkward turn of the conversation. "If they don't tell you, it's really hard to guess. Some people keep the signs very subtle."

"I see…" Zim said.

"Will you ever tell me who you like, by the way?" Dib asked suddenly.

"Well." Zim sighed. "I guess there's no escape from it, so I'll have to tell you, someday."

"Why? Is it Gaz?" Dib mocked and started laughing, but his laughter died faintly as he saw the look on Zim's face.

Dib panicked, he was about to yell when Zim covered his mouth with his hand.

"Don't freak out on me, right now!" Zim exclaimed.

"Seriously, Zim… How?!" Dib whispered removing Zim's hand from his mouth.

"I don't know, I just…" Zim trailed off, trying to find the right words. "I used to find her plain hideous before but, now that we're in this situation, I could see a side of her that I've never seen, before. She's strong and smart and I caught myself rather enjoying her presence. It's like a feeling that grows by every minute I spend with her."

"Yeah…" Dib said looking at the distance. "'Been there."

Zim followed his gaze to see Tak lying in her sleeping bag in the distance.

"You should go talk to her." Zim suggested.

"Why for?" Dib retorted. "Every time I do that, I get hurt."

"So, you're saying you're going to give up on her?" Zim asked.

Dib took a moment to look at Tak before responding.

"No." Dib said plainly.

"Well…?" Zim motioned with his hand to Tak.

Dib took a moment to gather the courage, but he finally got up and carried his sleeping bag to lay by Tak's side.

"Tak?" He called. "Are you awake?"

"Yes." Tak replied, rolling on her side to face Dib.

"Tak…" Dib paused as he tried to find the right words. "Will you give me a chance?"

Tak pondered for a moment before answering, making Dib grow nervous.

"I can't say for certain that I'll ever love you. Nor anyone…" Tak started. "But I do feel grateful for you rescuing me which, I guess, it's a start so… Yes, I will give you a chance."

"Thank you, Tak." Dib smiled feeling more relieved.

An awkward silence fell upon them as they tried thinking about what to say or do next.

"So…" Dib said awkwardly. "What now?"

"I guess you humans call this 'dating', right?" Tak pointed out.

"Yeah…" Dib felt thankful for the lights not being on, at that moment. That way Tak couldn't see him blushing. "I guess you could say that."

"Hm…" Tak hummed contemplative. "Say, Dib… How does this work?"

"Well…" Dib blushed harder, trying to find the words. "A dating couple usually does things like hanging out together, holding hands, kissing and…" He smiled awkwardly thinking about the subject. "Other things."

"Like what?" Tak asked curious.

Dib panicked and started sweating. He didn't know how to respond to that.

"Uh…" Dib said nervous. "That's something for another time."

"Okay?" Tak perked her eyebrow. "Just don't hide it from me for too long. I don't know much about this whole 'dating' thing, so I'm counting on you to teach me, okay?"

Dib's face turned vermillion. He knew that Tak didn't mean it like that, but couldn't help but feel embarrassed about her… inappropriate comment.

"Okay." Dib laughed nervously. "Count on me."

Tak didn't understand his suspicious behavior, but decided to ask questions later.

"Okay, well. I guess we should go to sleep, now." Tak said rubbing her eye.

"Sure." Dib said.

They both said their goodnights as Dib removed his glasses and they closed their eyes. Tak went through all the things that Dib just said to her about being on a relationship, and pondered about something. She opened her eyes and saw Dib's hand resting on the floor in front of her and took it in her own hand. Dib opened his eyes to see Tak's hand resting on top of his, then looked up at her face and found her smiling. Dib smiled as well and closed his eyes again, trying to get some sleep.


	11. Losses

Dib woke up with a fuss all around him. Tak seemed to be already awake and was nowhere to be found. He saw Zim yelling some orders to his father and sister before they both ran up to the entry of the market.

"Zim! What's going on?!" Dib asked with apparent panic on his voice as he put on his glasses and jumped out of the sleeping bag.

"The Irkens are bringing back-up. We need to leave, now!" Zim yelled back.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Dib asked as GIR stuffed Dib's sleeping bag back in his head, seeming completely carefree.

"Lead them to the back exit. We'll catch up to you." Zim ordered.

Dib nodded and they both split up. Dib did as he was told and lead everybody to the back exit, and they started running towards the mall, which was their next location. Zim ran up to the front double doors and helped Gaz and her father by shooting the soldiers and spittle runners while Gaz gathered the sentinel robots and Professor Membrane kept guard at the door. The three of them ran to where everybody was going while the Irken invaders followed them after shattering open the market's double glass doors. Everybody was having a hard time to escape from the soldiers that were already following them and the other ones they drove attention to on their way to the mall. When they were in the middle of the way, Zim got tackled down by an Irken invader, and didn't have much time to act for, when he looked up, the invader was already charging his laser gun at him. Zim closed his eyes as he heard a laser shot, but found himself safe and sound after the sound as he opened his eyes and examined himself. The Irken invader collapsed on top of Zim leaking pinkish blood. Zim shoved the carcass away from him and looked up at his savior: Tak.

"You just saved me?" Zim asked perplexed as Tak helped him up.

"Now we're even." Tak smiled at him, but Zim didn't have enough time return the gesture, for Tak was already grabbing his wrist and leading him along with the crowd.

They difficultly arrived at the mall and set themselves in as Gaz's and Zim's carnivore robots ravished the Irkens outside. Everybody practically collapsed onto the floor to rest before going through the mall to gather more essentials. Taking the chance that everybody was gathered at the mall's main hall, Zim called their attention.

"Okay…" He panted. "It looks like things are gonna be harder from now on. Since the Irkens sent back-up at the market, they might as well send some here anytime soon, so we gotta be quicker next time and think ahead of them. We'll spend another night in here, but-."

"Zim, now's not the right time." Miss Bitters interrupted, and Zim started examining his surroundings to see what she meant by that.

Several students were injured and some were missing.

"H-how… How did this happen…?" He couldn't help but let that question escape his lips.

"Wait a minute…" Gaz intervened. "Where's Francine?"

She examined the room, but saw no sign of her friend.

"No…" Gaz let out. Her father and brother noticed the look on her face, and realized that she was in a rare moment of fighting back a tear.

"Gaz…" Dib tried comforting her, but Gaz refused his hand and quickly walked away from him saying "It doesn't matter."

Zim pondered for a moment, trying to select the right words to say next.

"Okay…" He started. "This is a suicidal mission… We all know that, and we all knew that this was coming. It's not safe out there… But it's not safe in here either. I'm not telling you to stay with us if you don't want to, so I propose a voting. The ones who want to stay and fight… Raise your hand." Zim raised his hand as those last words escaped his lips. Dib, Tak, Miss Bitters, Professor Membrane and his coworkers followed his lead, but the skool children kept their hands down. "Alright." Zim started again as he lowered his hand. "But you won't survive in here all by yourselves. You'll need someone strong enough to protect you. The mall is an easy target, after all."

"I'll stay." Miss Bitters offered.

"Are you sure of that?" Zim asked.

"I'm a teacher." Miss Bitters answered. "It is my duty to protect them."

"Then it's settled." Zim said before turning his attention to the ones by his side. "I don't know how much time we have until they strike again, but we'll have to stay the night in here and regain energy." They nodded and Zim returned the gesture. "Dismissed."

And so, everybody dissipated and went to take care of their business as an awkward silence filled with the pain of loss fell upon them.

* * *

Zim sat on a table at the mall's food court eating the bag of chips he pilfered from the market the previous day. GIR sat on the floor by the side of Zim's chair humming cheerily. Deep in thought, Zim almost didn't notice someone approaching him.

"Something on your mind?" Dib asked as he soot on a chair from across the table.

"This is so messed up." Zim sighed as he stopped eating. "I mean, of course this would've happened, but I didn't think about the consequences of it."

"I didn't expect that from you, Zim." Dib rose a brow. "So you really do care about our skool mates."

"It's not that, it's just…" Zim trailed off. "I didn't know that things would get so ugly when something like this happened. Now we have a smaller team and some of them lost people very dear to them in the middle of all of this."

"Like Gaz did." Dib pointed out and Zim looked down embarrassed. "So you're really just feeling bad for her, is that fair to say?" Dib asked slumping on the chair and burying his hands in his pockets.

"Not _only_ because of that…" Zim trailed off again. "But mostly, I guess. I've never seen her with that look on her face, before. I feel awful."

"Yeah, I guess we're on the same boat." Dib raised his eyebrow.

"It's not your fault, Dib-monkey." Zim eyed Dib remorsefully.

"Don't think you're carrying this burden all by yourself, Zim." Dib shook his head. "I'm also one to blame. We're both to fault, here."

Zim pondered for a bit before looking up to speak, again.

"Thank you, Dib." Zim said standing up. "I… I think I'll go talk to your sister. We'll need her after all, and I don't want her suffering over this for long. Do you know where she is?"

"I think I saw her at the game store." Dib replied.

"Thank you. Come on, GIR." Zim then left with GIR to go find Gaz.

_Did he just call me "Dib"?_ Dib thought confused as he watched Zim depart.

Zim walked a bit before finally finding the game store. GIR was the first one to get in, he ran into the confinements of the store until he got to a corner where Gaz was playing her Game Slave 4 behind the balcony. Zim followed right after to see GIR jumping on her lap with excitement and hugging her waist, as if trying to comfort her. Gaz didn't even risk a peek at Zim, as if she knew who was standing in front of her. Zim soot by her side while Gaz kept her eyes glued to the screen.

"I didn't know this could function in a situation like this." Zim started off. Maybe not the best phrase to start a conversation.

"It works with batteries, and there's a lot to find in the mall." Gaz explained before her grumpiness came back. "What do you want?"

"Well I…" Zim started, but didn't finish that sentence as he saw that Gaz was still playing. "Uhm… Could you turn that off, first?" He said pointing at the Game Slave.

"Not now, I'm on the zone." Gaz replied, ignoring his request.

"Pay attention to Zim!" Zim yelled and Gaz finally paused her game, giving up.

"Fine, what do you want?" She asked again grumpily.

Zim took a moment to select his words before speaking up again.

"I'm sorry, Gaz-human." Zim apologized. "You've lost your friend and it's all my fault. I didn't want things to come to this point… But we all knew it was coming. I just wish you didn't lost someone so dear to you. I-." Zim stopped himself mid-sentence, for he saw Gaz looking away to try and hide her tears. "Gaz-human…"

"I don't even know what I'm crying about." Gaz wiped her tears. "I never spoke to her before and we've been friends for like a week, so why does it hurt so much?"

Zim suddenly hugged Gaz, taking her by surprise, but she accepted it all the same.

"Is okay, little Gaz. Is okay." Zim stroked her hair, as if trying to comfort a child, but Gaz surprisingly didn't seem to mind, instead she hugged him back, and they stayed like that for a few minutes before Zim spoke up again. "Do you want to keep doing this? You know, is okay if you don't."

"No. I do want to do this." Gaz replied looking Zim in the eyes. "I'm not going to just sit back and watch my world burn. I'm gonna fight and avenge her death."

"It's not about revenge, little Gaz." Zim shook his head.

"I know, I just…" Gaz trailed off looking down, but Zim held her chin, forcing her to look up again.

"I know what you're thinking." Zim spoke. "But you can't let vengeance guide your actions. You have to fight for a noble cause, so fight for your family, your friends, your planet, and don't let the same happen to them."

"I didn't know you could be so smart, Zim." Gaz smiled.

"Excuse me?" Zim complained.

"Okay. I'll try to put my feelings back in place." Gaz said, ignoring Zim's protest. "You're right. Thank you."

"You're welcome." Zim mumbled blushing slightly.

"And…" Gaz blushed as well. Zim looked at her questioningly. "Do you mind staying here with me for a while? I don't really want to be alone, right now."

"Of course." Zim agreed smiling.

"I didn't think you would agree with that." Gaz looked down playing with her hair.

"That would be my pleasure. I really enjoy hanging out with you, little Gaz." Zim smiled genuinely at her.

"Whatever." That's all Gaz could say in reply, but couldn't do so without hiding her blushing face and small smile.

They both leaned on the wall behind them and just sat there enjoying each other's company without saying a word.


	12. Heartache

"Are you alright?" Dib heard Tak's voice coming from his side. He looked up to see her standing by the side of the chair he was still sitting on with a worried look on her face.

"I'm fine, I guess." Dib started as Tak took a seat by his side. "I'm probably not the one you should be worrying about, though."

"You know, you humans intrigue me." Tak smiled sweetly. "You actually feel remorse for the ones you lost and even for the ones who lost someone. In my planet we're just replaceable, meaningless war machines." She said that last part with a frown on her face.

"I can see you're starting to understand how human feelings work." Dib rose a brow.

"Yeah, I guess so." Tak said placing a hand on her neck. "Dib, I would like to take the time we'll be spending here to stay with you, is that okay?"

"Uhm… Sure." Dib said blushing. "But you really didn't need to be asking me that."

"Just wanted to make sure we're actually dating." Tak shrugged.

"Yeah, uh…" Dib stuttered. "I completely forgot about that." Looking back to Tak, Dib saw her raising an eyebrow and panicked. "I-I mean… It's just that things are so crazy lately, huh? I mean, we already had to run straight away from the market and… Well…"

"You had me worried there for a second." Tak sighed in relief smiling.

"Well, uh… What do you have in mind then?" Dib asked and Tak looked at him questioningly. "I mean, we're at the mall. We don't really need to be staying here the whole time. We could walk around, see what we can take from here."

"Hm…" Tak hummed contemplative. "Is this what you humans call a… What's the word, again…? 'Date'?"

"Uhm… Yeah, I guess you could call it like that. I mean, if you want." Dib said nervously.

"Okay. So this will be our first date." Tak said getting up. "Now will you help me find the clothing shop? I'm really not fond of Zim's color choices." Dib looked at the clothes that Tak wore. She had to borrow Zim's clothes, which consisted mostly of blacks, reds and occasional whites.

"Sure." Dib stood up as well. "I think it's this way."

Dib then led Tak into the confinements of the mall until they found the nearest clothing shop. When they arrived, Dib felt like he commit a mistake, for Tak took as long as any other normal earthling girl would to pick clothes.

"Tak? Why are you taking so long in there?" Dib called from the outside of the cabin.

"I wanna make sure I blend in with the humans." Tak answered from the inside of the cabin.

"You don't really have to worry about that." Dib replied.

"Okay, hang on." Tak got out a couple of minutes later wearing a black tank top, a purple leather jacket, black leather pants and black boots. "How about this one?"

"Not very practical." Dib retorted. "Isn't it uncomfortable?"

"I don't think so." Tak replied as she examined her clothes.

"You should probably be wearing something more comfortable. I don't think it's going to work if you wear this amount of leather in our battle." Dib explained.

"Okay." Tak sighed before going back into the cabin. "I'll be right back." She returned a few minutes later wearing a purple knitted sweater, light blue cigarettes and black creepers. She stretched out her arms on either side of her body as if asking for Dib's opinion. "So?"

"Now we're talking." Dib smiled and noticed that Tak didn't remove the clothing's tags. "Wait a minute." Dib walked up to Tak and stretched out his hand to tear off the tag while placing his head on Tak's shoulder to be able to see what he was doing, but didn't notice at first that it looked more like a hug. Tak blushed instantly and Dib froze on the spot, realizing what he was doing. Backing away from Tak a little, Dib blushed as well, and was about to start explaining himself when Tak closed the space between them once more. Dib could barely feel her small breasts pressing against his chest as her arms snaked around his waist. Dib froze again, he didn't know if he should hug her back or push her away. He ended up doing neither. "Uhm… Tak?" Dib finally found his voice. "What are you doing?"

"Isn't this what dating couples are supposed to do?" Tak said smiling as she removed her head from Dib's chest.

"Right, uhm…" Dib blushed harder, not knowing what to do next.

"You don't want it?" Tak asked disappointed as she loosed the grip around Dib's waist.

Dib looked down at Tak's face as he was able to relax a bit. He felt that Tak was about to walk away when he finally took some action. Grabbing her face, Dib placed a kiss to her lips. Tak's eyes fluttered shut and she threw her arms around his neck. It wasn't long before things started to heat up and their tongues slid into each other's mouths, fighting for dominance.

"I'm sorry Tak…" Dib let out in between kisses. "But I can't control myself."

"Is okay… I know…" Tak replied. "Me neither."

Pushing Tak against the wall on the inside of the cabin, Dib hoisted her up on his waist where she hugged his hips with her legs. They slid to the floor as they kissed but, when Dib took a moment to look Tak in the eyes, he saw human Tak looking back at him.

"Turn it off." Dib demanded and Tak looked at him questioningly. "Your disguise, turn it off."

"What? But I thought…" Tak started.

"You thought that wrong." Dib cut her off shaking his head. "I wanna see the real you, Tak." Dib made a pause to caress her cheeks. "I think you're beautiful the way you are."

Tak then did as she was told to and turned her holo disguise off before they lost themselves in a sweet embrace.

* * *

"Are you feeling better, now?" Zim asked Gaz as they remained in the game store holding each other as Zim tried comforting Gaz.

"I guess… Maybe." Gaz looked up at Zim. "Thanks for staying with me, Zim."

"No problem." Zim replied as he placed a hand on her chin and caressed it with his thumb.

"Awww!" They heard GIR's voice in front of them. Of course, he was still there…

"Uhm… Why don't you go provide sleeping bags for everyone, GIR? It's getting late, anyway." Zim said awkwardly.

"Okie-dokie!" GIR got up and opened his head, firing two sleeping bags at Zim's face like a cannon.

"Thanks, GIR." Zim said and GIR saluted before walking out the game store and deliver sleeping bags for everyone else.

Gaz grabbed one of the sleeping bags and started to prepare it to sleep.

"Are you already going to sleep?" Zim asked as Gaz unrolled her sleeping bag by his side.

"Yeah, I'm not feeling very well, after all." Gaz explained as she got in the sleeping bag.

"Sure." Was all Zim could manage to say in reply. "I'll be here if you need anything, okay?" He said as he also began preparing his own sleeping bag.

"Mm." Gaz let out in reply as she laid to rest while Zim laid by her side, preparing themselves for a turbulent sleep.


	13. Unexpected Surprise

When did things turn out that way…?

Gaz was standing in front of the rotting corpses of her family and friends while all around her the world burned. She cried, but there was no one to hear her. Suddenly, everything went dark. She was alone.

"Why?" She asked herself. "Why do I always have to be…?"

She felt a hand on her shoulder, and quickly turned over to see who was behind her. She saw a pale face adorned with a frame of light blonde, long hair. She wasn't mistaken…

"Francine!" Gaz hugged her friend, but couldn't feel the warmth of her body. In fact, she couldn't feel anything. "This isn't real, is it?" Gaz asked backing away.

"No, Gaz." Francine shook her head.

"Fuck." Gaz clacked her tongue in annoyance and walked away.

"Where do you think you're going?" Francine asked.

"I don't want to be here." Gaz turned to face her friend once more. "Please, just… Let me wake up." Her eyes began watering up.

"I can't do that, Gaz." Francine took a few steps towards her friend. "I have so much to tell you." Gaz cried silently as she waited for Francine to speak. "You have such weird dreams, you know." Francine laughed.

"And you're here only to tell me _that_?" Gaz complained.

"Gaz." Francine took Gaz's hand. "You're not alone. Only because you lost me, it doesn't mean you have to stop living. Just take a look around you. You have such a loving family and people who are willing to spend the rest of their lives with you. All you have to do is let them get near you, then you won't be alone, anymore." Gaz looked down, taking in everything Francine just said. "Also, thank you…" Gaz looked up again, staring into Francine's eyes questioningly. "I know how that feels like, Gaz… Being alone." It was Francine's turn to start crying. "I never thought someone would actually cry because of me."

"Francine." Gaz hugged her friend one more time. "Thank you for being my friend."

Gaz's eyes shot open to the real world. She laid there for a few minutes taking in the situation. She was still sleeping by Zim's side and they were still in the middle of that end of world. _Great._ Gaz didn't notice she started crying, waking Zim up in the process.

"Hey, what's wrong, little Gaz?" Zim asked sitting up on the sleeping bag. Gaz soot up as well, but couldn't control the sobs that escaped her lips. "Is it Francine? Or did you have a bad dream?"

Gaz took Zim by surprise, hugging him. She cried on his chest while Zim stroke her hair. When Gaz finally calmed down, she backed away a little while Zim wiped a tear from her face.

"What happened?" Zim asked tenderly.

"I…" Gaz trailed off. "Do you ever just feel so alone that you feel like, if you die, nobody will even care?"

"Yes." Zim replied. "Is that how you feel, Gaz-human?"

"This is so stupid." Gaz said.

"It's not." Zim retorted. "But you're not alone, little Gaz… You're not."

Zim then started placing pecks on Gaz's face. The first one on her forehead, then another one on her cheek.

"Zim." Gaz called.

Zim immediately let go of her, looking into her eyes embarrassed.

"Sorry." Zim said looking away.

Gaz placed a hand on Zim's cheek, forcing him to look back at her. Going through what Francine said to her in her mind, Gaz realized what she meant. She slowly started approaching his face and Zim did the same. They closed their eyes as they locked lips firmly and savored each other's mouths before finally letting go. Zim grabbed Gaz's hand that still held his cheek and kissed her wrist. They would've stayed like that for hours, however there was something hovering above Gaz's head.

"Since when?" She asked.

"I don't know. I guess…" Zim paused letting go of her hand. "Since this all started."

"How?" Gaz asked again.

"You're punishing yourself, Gaz." Zim said as he pushed a lock of Gaz's hair behind her ear, making her shiver at the action. "You're a wonderful human being. I couldn't see that up until now… But you're amazing."

Gaz blushed at the compliment, but then realized something.

"Did you just call me 'Gaz'?" She asked.

"Yeah." Zim replied matter-of-factly.

"Why?" She asked again.

"I'm just feeling more intimate to you, now." Zim shrugged. "Don't you agree?"

"Yeah, I guess so." Gaz blushed looking away.

Zim grabbed her chin, forcing her to look back up at him, then placed a peck on her lips.

"We better go and continue with our plan, now." Zim said as he cupped both her cheeks.

"Mm." Was all Gaz said in reply as Zim stood up and offered her a hand.

Gaz was about to jump to the other side of the balcony when Zim grabbed her hand, stopping her from doing so.

"Gaz… Can you promise me something?" Gaz looked at him questioningly, waiting for him to continue. "That we won't let this end even after everything's back to normal?"

Gaz smiled and took him in another kiss.

"Of course not." She said.

"Thank you." Zim replied.

They jumped over the balcony and went to go meet everyone else before giving continuation to their plan.

* * *

They made it to Nasa Place without dragging much attention to themselves, thankfully. Dib led them into the building and into the Swollen Eyeball's headquarters. They were received by agent Darkbootie right away.

"Agent Mothman!" He exclaimed as he saw his colleague at the door. "You made it!"

"Hey, agent Darkbootie!" Dib greeted him back. "I hope you don't mind I brought some friends in."

"Of course not. Come on in!" Agent Darkbootie took the lead as they all entered the headquarters and were surprised by all the technology they saw in it. "We've all been waiting for you. I have to say it's good you brought more people with you."

"Why is that?" Dib asked.

"Well, I guess it's finally time we show it to you." Agent Darkbootie led them to a door at the back of the room where he typed in a password on a panel, making the door slide open. Agent Darkbootie moved so that they could see what was behind it: hundreds of thousands of ships. Some were complete and ready to go, some were still on the making, but there were enough for everyone. But the first thing they noticed was that they were all made of Irken technology.


	14. Golden Years

The newcomers took a few steps forward, not believing their eyes.

"Agent Darkbootie…" Dib started. "How did you-."

"We built those ships from that one you sent to us." Agent Darkbootie interrupted. "Remember? The one that thought it was you, agent Mothman."

"Yeah… I remember that." Dib started sweating nervously from memories of that day.

"Wait." Zim intervened. "Are you talking about Tak's ship?"

"Wait, my ship?" Tak cut in. "How did you get my ship?"

"It crashed on my backyard after your battle with Zim." Dib explained.

" _Your_ ship?" Agent Darkbootie asked Tak suspiciously. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Everybody froze on their spots. A few agents nearby heard the conversation and started gathering around them menacingly.

"Agent Mothman, you're not bringing enemies into the headquarters, are you?" Agent Darkbootie asked.

"Okay, I guess it's time we tell you." Dib walked up to Zim and Tak. "Everybody, these are Zim and Tak. They're Irkens fighting for the humans."

With that, Dib nodded at them and Zim and Tak removed their disguises. All the agents gasped as they saw their true forms.

"Wait a minute." A tall woman with pink, spiked hair cut in. "How can we be sure they're not turning their backs on us?"

"Agent Tunaghost?" Dib asked, but received no response. "Uhm… Their leaders turned their backs on them. They're exiled from their planet and have no other choice. I hope you guys can accept them."

The agents exchanged looks as if talking by telepathy.

"Alright, agent Mothman." Agent Darkbootie said. "I'll believe in your words, but if they turn their backs on us, you'll be in trouble as well."

"Understood." Dib said awkwardly.

"Now, we should better get on the ships." Agent Darkbootie said as he directed himself to the ships.

"Hang on." Zim intervened. "Don't you think we need a plan?"

"And what do you propose we do?" Agent Darkbootie took firm steps towards Zim.

"Well, the plan is to keep the Irkens away from planet Earth." Zim explained. "But trust me when I say that they won't keep their word that easily. We need something to keep them away. Something powerful enough to have them in our hands." Zim made a pause before speaking up again. "I need to contact the Vortians."

"Who?" Agent Darkbootie asked confused.

"Our technology doesn't come from our own planet." Zim explained. "It comes from a planet enslaved by the Irkens called 'Vort'. If we get them to send us a powerful weapon without the Tallests' knowledge, we'll win this battle easily."

"I have a better idea." Tak cut in. "Have you ever heard of The Resisty?"

"The Resisty?" Zim asked. "That's a stupid name."

"Isn't it?" Tak agreed. "They're a rebel group formed to fight against the Irken empire, and their leader, Lard Nar, is a Vortian."

"Rebels, huh?" Zim placed a hand on his chin, pondering. "I guess that would be a better idea. Too bad I can't contact anyone outside from Earth's atmosphere only with my PAK, and my base is probably destroyed by now."

"I think I can help with that." Tak smiled placing a hand on Zim's shoulder.

The next moment, Tak was enhancing Zim's PAK with the help of the ship's technology. She connected some tubes of the ship to his PAK and started typing in commands on the keyboard to enhance the call reach of his PAK.

"How long does it take?" Zim complained as he sat inpatient by the side of the ship.

"Do you wanna try?" Tak complained back. "I just need a couple more minutes and… Done. Try it now."

Zim then produced a screen from the inside of his PAK, starting a video call. A few seconds later, someone could be heard from the other end.

"Yes? What do you want?" A Vortian spoke on the screen. "Huh? An Irken?"

"Hello. Are you Lard Nar?" Zim greeted and Lard Nar rose his finger, about to end the call. "Don't hang up on me, right now!" Zim exclaimed, stopping him. "Listen, I'm in planet Earth and I need your help."

"Yeah? And why should I help you?" Lard Nar asked.

"What having the entire Irken empire in your hand sounds like?" Zim said smiling morbidly.

"I'm listening." Lard Nar said, suddenly more interested.

"Okay, I need you to help me get a powerful weapon." Zim explained. "We're in the middle of a war here in planet Earth, so you'll have to deliver it in Jupiter."

"A weapon, huh?" Lard Nar perked a brow. "But how powerful are we talking about?"

Zim grimaced before adding…

"Powerful enough to destroy a planet."

* * *

A few days passed until everything was ready for them to take off. They were discussing the final details of their plan before their due date.

"Okay, now that everything's ready, we only need to find out one more thing…" Zim spoke as they sat at a round table, plotting their plan. "How are we gonna get to the Tallests?"

"You haven't found that out, yet?!" Gaz exclaimed.

"Well, they won't leave the massive, and I have no idea of how we're gonna get in." Zim explained.

Some of them threw their heads back while others placed a palm to their faces going "UUUUUGGH!".

"Hey! Will you stop that?" Zim complained. "If any of you have a good idea, then tell me. I would be very grateful!"

Gaz paused pondering about something.

"Where are the Tallests guys hidden?" She asked.

"I'm not sure. Probably in the control room." Zim shrugged. "Why?"

"I think I know how to get to them." Gaz smiled.

"I'm listening." Zim said as everybody waited for her to continue.

"Okay, so here's how it's going to work." Gaz began tracing lines with a pencil on a sheet of paper, explaining how everything was going to go when they executed their plan.

* * *

When everything was set and ready for them to begin with their plan, they dressed in armors made from Irken technology for their battle. Everybody was getting ready to enter the ships when Zim aborted Gaz before they could get into the ship they were supposed to share. He grabbed her arm, making her stop on the tracks, placing a kiss to her lips.

"For good luck." Zim explained smiling.

Gaz returned the kiss before saying…

"We won't need it."

They smiled at each other before entering their ship with GIR. The headquarter's ceiling rumbled as it started opening up so that the ships could take off. Everybody started the engines and took off into the skies, driving straight to the Hi Skool. They fought spittle runners and other Irkens who shoot at them as they tried getting to the massive. When they finally made it, the ships began firing at the massive and successfully dodging each blow it took on the small ships. Zim and Gaz's ship drove straight to the control room's window as they gave initiation to Gaz's plan. As Zim opened up the ship, Gaz got up and got ready to take a leap, then she jumped into the skies, kicking the control room's window with both her feet as the glass shattered in a million pieces and Gaz landed on Tallest purple in the process. The Irken soldiers pointed their guns at her, but Gaz was already getting up pointing her own gun at Tallest purple's head as she grabbed him by the neck.

"Don't move!" She demanded. "Unless you want me to blow your dear Tallest's squeedly spooch up."

"How dare you-!" Tallest red exclaimed, but couldn't finish his sentence as three more people burst into the room, pointing their guns at Tallest red's head. It was Zim, Dib and Tak.

"Tell your soldiers to lower their guns." Zim demanded.

"Zim, I-." Tallest red started.

"Do it!" Zim exclaimed cutting him off. "Or I won't hesitate on blowing up your head right now!"

Tallest red eyed Tallest purple concerned.

"Do what they said!" Tallest purple exclaimed, fearing for his life. The Irken soldiers did as they were told and lowered their guns.

"What do you want, Zim?!" Tallest red asked.

"What do you think?" Zim asked rhetorically. "Go back to Irk with your troops."

"And why would we do that?" Tallest red asked.

"I guess you don't realize the kind of situation you're in." Zim charged his gun.

"Okay! Okay! Calm down!" Tallest red exclaimed and Zim uncharged his gun but never let his guard down. Looking up at Tak, Tallest red had an idea. "Hey, you're Tak, right?" He directed himself to her. "Do you wanna be an invader? That's what you wanted, right?" Tak rose a brow at his propose. "You know, you just have to shoot them right now and we'll give you whatever you want."

Tak slowly lowered her gun, looking up at Zim and Dib, who eyed her back.

"You're kidding, right?" Tak laughed as she raised her gun one more time.

"What? Are you insane?!" Tallest red exclaimed.

"Do you really think that this is what I want for myself?" Tak started. "Like I would actually keep living like a meaningless war machine!"

"Okay! Okay!" Tallest red exclaimed. "Look, we'll do what you say, okay? We'll go back to Irk and take our troops with us. That's what you wanted, right?"

"Not exactly." Zim said. "I want to make sure you won't ever be back, so you better swear you won't come back, or else!"

"Or what? You're gonna blow up our planet?" Tallest red started laughing, but it died down as he saw the serious looks on everyone's faces. "You guys suck!"

"So we have a deal?" Zim asked perking an eyebrow.

Tallest red growled in anger, it looked like his head was about to explode.

"Fine! Whatever! Have it your way!" Tallest red complained as he floated away.

"Well, that was easy." Gaz said throwing Tallest purple to the floor.

They all turned on the rockets of their suits and floated out of the massive, but not before Gaz stretched out her middle finger at the Irkens on the ship.

The Irkens then started to dissipate by the Tallests' command, flying into the sky with their spittle runners and going straight back to Irk before the own massive took off. The human teenagers and the Irkens watched as they left while the rebels got out of their ships, shouting in victory. Zim, Gaz, Dib and Tak were then hoisted up in the air as the world's heroes.

* * *

"Thank you! Thank you everyone for coming!" The President Man spoke into a microphone as everyone in the city joined at the front of the city hall to listen to his speech about the world's heroes. "But most importantly, let's thank these brave citizens for protecting our planet from an alien invasion." He made a pause as the crowd started applauding. When the President Man started speaking again, Zim wasn't really paying attention. He looked over at Gaz who was sitting right by his side behind the President Man. Zim looked at her hand sitting on her lap and took it in his own hand. Gaz looked up at Zim to find him smiling and smiled back. "… And now, without any further ado, Professor Membrane, everybody!" The President Man said as the professor walked up to the microphone and the crowd cheered once more.

"Thank you!" Professor Membrane said as the applauses died down. "Even though I did participate in the battle, I have to say: I'm not the real hero. No. For the real heroes are sitting right behind me, and they are my son and daughter and those brave aliens who fought against their own leaders." Professor Membrane started clapping as the crowd followed his lead. The teenagers and the two aliens then walked up to the front of the stage before President Man delivered Professor Membrane four medals, which he pinned to the Heroes' chests.

"Now, I want to make a question for the heroes." The President Man took control of the microphone, again. "Now that you saved the world, what do you plan on doing next?"

Everybody pondered for a moment before eyeing each other, as if talking by telepathy.

* * *

Thirteen years in the future, the world's heroes were together at a park taking a walk with their children. They decided to live a normal human life with their families as much as Zim's and Tak's green skins allowed them to. Dib and Tak were at the sand pit helping the twins build a sand castle while Zim and Gaz where at the benches taking care of their 6-months-old daughter. Zim picked her up from the stroller that she shared with GIR when she started crying and comforted her in his arms. Gaz leaned in her husband's body as he pacified their daughter.

"What?" Zim asked smiling.

"You're such a great dad, Zim." Gaz smiled back.

"Well, I mean, it's not much different than taking care of GIR." Zim blushed looking back at the little girl in his arms.

"Right." Gaz replied and Zim couldn't help but notice the melancholy on her tone.

"What's wrong?" Zim asked.

"Zim." Gaz sighed. "I've been thinking… How long does an Irken live?"

"Well…" Zim trailed off. "We're not immortal, but our life spam goes way longer than a human's."

"Hm." Gaz hummed in reply.

"Don't worry, Gaz." Zim spoke again. "We'll figure out something."

"And what are you gonna do when I die? Kill yourself?" Gaz asked pessimistically.

"Don't be like that." Zim retorted. "I wish I could stay as long as I can, but I can't do that either. When your time comes, then so will mine because that's how life works, right? We have to deal with the pain of loss but keep living." Zim then approached the baby to his face. "Right, little Ada? I hope you can forgive me for that. But just know that daddy loves you lots."

Ada stared back at her father not understanding what he was saying, she just fell asleep in his arms. It was just about sixty years later that the time came.

* * *

Zim was sleeping next to Gaz in their bed. Zim was the first one to wake up, so he rolled to his side and began shaking Gaz awake… Except she didn't wake up. Zim started to panic, trying to wake her up again and again but, when he stopped to try and listen to her heart beats, he heard none. Zim started crying and rested his head on her chest, sobbing.

Not far from there, Ada received a call in her cellphone. She smiled when she saw the name on the screen.

"Hey, dad!" She greeted picking up her phone, but frowned right away when her father answered her greeting. "It's time." He said from the other end.

Ada then drove straight to her parents' house, calling for her father as soon as she entered. She found him lying on the bed right next to his wife's corpse.

"Hello, Ada." Zim forced a smile at his daughter.

"Mom." Ada cried as she walked up to the bed. Zim took her hand when she approached him.

"It's time, baby girl." Zim smiled sadly.

"Dad…" Ada sat on the bed, not able to take that much pressure. "I… I can't do this."

"You have to." Zim pushed a lock of her hair behind her ear. "Please."

"But why?" Ada asked in a whisper.

"That's just how life works." Zim shrugged. "I know how much you'll suffer. I know because I'm feeling that way right now, but that's how life works. You deal with losses and move on."

"But I can't." Ada said as more tears sprouted from her eyes.

"You have to… Do that for your old man." Zim smiled as tears also started sprouting from his eyes.

"Okay." Ada finally agreed.

Zim soot up on the bed and let Ada remove his PAK. She hugged it as if her life depended on it.

"Ada, look at me." Zim placed a hand on his daughter's cheek. "I want you to destroy it."

"But I can't." Ada shook her head.

"Please, Ada." Zim said. "I've depended on that thing for my whole life, I don't want it to keep existing."

Ada took a moment to ponder before speaking up again.

"Okay… I'll do it for you." Ada agreed.

"That's my baby girl." Zim held his daughter's face with both his hands and pushed her near him to give her a peck on her forehead. "Ada… I love you."

"I love you too." Ada said before Zim's arms fell to his sides and his head rolled to the side. "Dad? Dad?!" Ada started calling her father to receive no answer. She laid her head on his chest and broke down in tears.

* * *

Ada was with her family staring down into the tombs of Zim and Gaz.

"C'mon, Ada. It's time to go." Her husband said placing a hand on her shoulder, but Ada didn't move nor said anything. "Are you okay?"

"He said…" Ada started. "That we have to deal with losses and move on, in life."

"He really was a wise old man." Her husband smiled. "Ada, you can't stop living because you've lost someone, after all you still have a family… Right?"

Ada didn't reply, she simply smiled up at him and they both walked away from the cemetery, leaving the couple of tombstones behind, which they would certainly pay visits to on the days to come.

THE END.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N:** After much consideration, I decided to put this story back up because I wasn’t having any good ideas to rewrite it. :/ I will be rewriting Something Called “Love” though, but that’ll be in the far future… ‘^.^


End file.
